Naruto: Son of the Yellow Flash!
by LightVex
Summary: In this AU Naruto is much more closely tied to his father's personality and as a result his impact on the ninja world will change drastically, watch Naruto as he carries the will his father left behind while surpassing the man in the process. Naruto/Fem-Sasuke pairing.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone it's been awhile but I'm glad to announce I'm back. With a new title and a clear story list I will try to write even more story's that you will all enjoy more than those in the past. For Now I'll be working on three stories in tandem for a while, I want to try out different things with all three so you might find your opinions on them are vastly different. But I would still like your comments on which style I excel in more and which elements you believe I can improve on more. Now without further ado I present Naruto: Son of the Yellow Flash. Oh by the way I am looking for a Beta, you can work on one or more of the stories if you wish and mostly I'm looking for someone to help with small mistakes and more importantly offer input on how interesting the chapters are and what elements can be improved before release. But anywho on to the story!

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Sharp blue eyes opened suddenly as the faint sounds of footfalls echoed through the empty apartment, those same blue eyes took on an electric-infused appearance as suddenly the small room erupted into chaos, and an entire wall was smashed to splinters as smoke filled the room. Three shapes moved into position under the cover of the smoke. Another shape shot from the surface of the bed as a barrage of shuriken littered the mattress. The same shape that had dodged then proceeded to flip through a series of hand seals before pressing a palm toward the floor.

" **Wind Style: Gale Palm!"** The person howled in a tone denoting a younger boy. Wind swirled rapidly and within half a second all the smoke was blown away revealing the other three figures as well as the one being attacked. The boy who had just cleared the smoke stood was the owner of those sharp blue eyes, his spiked blonde hair held its place despite the wind, his features were set in determination as he clutched a bleeding wound on his right arm. Looking at the bed one could see a single shuriken had blood trickling down its steel edges. The other three figures appeared to be…..the exact same as the blonde who was being attacked. With the exception of all three being geared up in black clothing and an array of ninja pouches. The outnumbered boy looked with a grin at his three shadow clones.

"Nice entrance guys, but now it's my turn" The blonde said with a grin as the three clones pulled out razor sharp kunai in preparation for the upcoming assault. The blonde took off with crazy acceleration as he swiftly obtained two large pieces of shrapnel from the floor, each about as large as a kunai. He flung one forward in the blink of an eye and before the three attackers realized it one of them disappeared in a puff of smoke. The other two jumped back in an attempt to keep the smoke from blinding them. However while they were still mid-jump the original burst through the smoke and flung the second wooden shard at one copy. Said copy was able to deflect the shrapnel with great effort which allowed the original to launch an uppercut, the copy was caught directly in the chin and in a puff of smoke only the original and one copy remained. Both squared off as the copy retrieved a second kunai, he slipped into a wide legged stance with one kunai held in a normal grip in front of him while the second was held in a reverse grip slightly closer to his body and off to the side. The original smirked as the copy charged him, starting with a simple jab with the front knife the clone attempted to get the original on his back foot. The original was having none of that as he simply sidestepped the knife jab letting the momentum carry his copy forward. The copy whirled on his back foot bringing the second knife toward the original with the rotation of his spin behind it. The original caught the wrist of his copy and sent the powerful back swing into its own back. Allowing it to poof out of existence. The blonde wiped the sweat from his brow as he surveyed the destruction of his room.

"Yep, definitely a good way to start the morning" Naruto Uzumaki said to himself before forming a cross shaped hand seal, two clones poofed into existence beside him and set out cleaning up the mess. Naruto meanwhile looked at his bed with a small pout. 'Maybe I should rethink these clone assaults every morning, this is the fifth bed this month' Naruto thought to himself as he strolled toward the bathroom for his morning shower.

' **Nonsense brat, these are good training for you. They help you maintain shadow clones in your sleep while also readying you for night assaults.'** A deep menacing voice said in his head as Naruto turned the taps for his shower. The Nine tailed fox that lived in Naruto had been communicating with the blonde since he could remember. So it was no real surprise to him when that bastard Mizuki told him what he already knew. Now that he thought on it he should probably go to the prison to thank Mizuki. Without his help the blonde would have never found out about the techniques in the forbidden scroll.

' **Now hurry up you've got training all day for the rest of the week. Team assignments are in four days aren't they?'** The fox seemed to demand more so than question, Naruto nodded his head rapidly before jumping into the shower. But at the same time he was glad he had the fox around to keep him company.

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'Hey Fox why are you exactly helping me? Aren't I the only thing in the way of you and your freedom' Naruto questioned in a calm tone as he strolled down the street, his tenant seemed to growl in anger at this question.

' **Don't get so high and mighty brat, you could never hope to stand in my way. It's that damn seal on your stomach that's in my way. And at the same time you're not exactly insignificant to my well-being. As long as this seal is here I die with you. So it's in my best interest to give you at least the guidance your sensei choose not to. It just so happens your smart for a human, however small an achievement that is. So training you is a lot less annoying than it could have been if you were similar to my previous container.'** The fox growled out angrily remembering the red haired woman, he could still hear her constant screaming in his ears. Naruto was oblivious to the fox's memories as he was content with the answer, no need to press the issue if he was getting a good sensei out of it. Naruto's eyes widened as he slipped out of deep thought. All he saw was a flash of Coal black eyes before he and another person were sent tumbling to the ground. As he looked up he was met with the eyes of Satsuki Uchiha. The girl was about three inches shorter than him and her long raven hair was slightly spiky allowing several bangs to cover her forehead while the rest cascaded down to her mid-back. She wore a white short skirt that was split along the sides showing black spandex shorts. This was accompanied by white stocking that went up to just above her knees. She wore a blue sleeveless top that clung to her body and to cover her arms she wore white arm warmers that went up to above her elbow. Both those and the stockings had blue outlines that matched her shirt. Naruto looked down at his customary outfit of black pants and jacket with an orange undershirt and felt out of fashion.

"I found you, you blonde bastard!" She exclaimed before jumping atop Naruto pinning his arms to the ground, the fire in her eyes was noticeable to Naruto as she ground her teeth. "Why the hell did you fail the graduation exam!?" She shouted down at him as the blonde grinned in embarrassment. Unknown to her, Mizuki had tampered with Naruto's results before giving him the fake graduation option to steal the scroll. Looking back on it he couldn't understand why he would believe such a thing.

 **Flashback Time!**

Naruto looked up at Iruka who currently had a massive fuma shuriken sticking out of his back, the teacher had just saved Naruto from the attack of Mizuki who was after the scroll Naruto had on his back. Naruto swore at himself in his head thinking how he had been played for a fool by Mizuki. He had just been so desperate to become a shinobi. Naruto's eyes became sharper and more steel like as he laid the nearly unconscious Iruka down on the ground. Taking the massive shuriken out Naruto quickly tore his jacket up and applied a variety of bandages for pressure and comfort. Satisfied with his patch job Naruto picked up the massive shuriken and looked Mizuki dead in the eye as his own lit up with an electric blue colour.

"Forbidden Art: Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto called out with a one handed tiger seal, suddenly in a massive poof of smoke Mizuki was met with nearly 500 Naruto's staring him down. All holding the massive fuma shuriken.

"What the Hell!?" Mizuki exclaimed as he jumped down from the branch he was on to the ground, he landed with not so much as a sound as he looked around at all the Naruto's around him. He was clearly afraid. Naruto simply looked him dead in the eye as he and all his clones reared back their Massive Shuriken. All at once the throwing stars where released and Mizuki's eyes started to water in fear. Suddenly as the storm of steel was about to tear him to pieces all the throwing stars in puffs of smoke disappeared. Before he could have another thought Naruto shot forward from the smoke with his fist reared back. He threw a chakra enhanced haymaker that sent Mizuki flying into a tree. The army of Naruto's all disappeared as the blonde threw a barrage of shuriken that Mizuki flinched at as they all passed the tree. Before Mizuki would offer a taunt several lengths of wire pinned him to the tree as the true purpose of the shuriken revealed itself. His arms were both pinned to his sides stopping him from performing a substitution.

"Now listen here you scum, you have betrayed your village, your student, and your comrade. But I am not the Hokage or even a ninja so I cannot sentence you to death. But I will beat the crap out of you!" Naruto yelled as he sent another chakra powered haymaker at Mizuki's stomach. A crater formed in the tree behind the man as his eyes widened in pain. His voice attempted to choke out some form of speech before Naruto silenced that with a swift right hook to the face that knocked the man out in an instant. Naruto's eyes turned back to their normal ocean blue hue as he grinned before passing out from the strain of his clone army. Which in the end only ended being an intimidation tactic.

 **Flashback Done!**

Remembering the sound pounding he had delivered Mizuki he was content with himself, he was about to reply to Satsuki with a small fib about a mess up with his test results. But he immediately found that while he had reminisced Satsuki had started dragging him along the ground and they were now at a training field.

"Now listen here you blonde dumbass, I thought you were my only real rival at school. And seeing as you failed the graduation exam that probably isn't the case anymore. However in honour of our current score being 50-50 I'll give you one last spar to prove your worth." Satsuki said with a bravado that didn't sound right in her cute voice. Naruto chuckled a bit and decided to indulge the girl before telling her he passed.

Without any words Naruto pulled out a kunai and held it in front of him. His posture was upright and his feet were close together with his back foot bounding up and down, Satsuki looked at the odd combat stance remembering not to underestimate it. She slipped into her Uchiha stance with a kunai in each hand as the two stared at each other. A sudden breeze blew past and in a burst of motion Satsuki shot forward at Naruto who just stood there. She lashed out with a stab of her kunai and was met with a dull thud as Naruto's eyes widened before a puff of smoke showed the log she had just stabbed. She dodged to the right as a kunai embedded itself in the ground. She looked at the treeline and saw a flash of blonde hair as she flashed through Hand seals.

" **Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"** Satsuki yelled out as a massive fireball shot out and engulfed the foliage. Catching the blonde in its wake, Satsuki heard a poof of smoke behind her and quickly abandoned the technique to block a roundhouse kick from the blonde who had just transformed from the kunai. She was about to retaliate when he felt cold steel at her neck. She looked behind her to find a slightly singed Naruto holding a kunai to her neck.

"You're an idiot" She mumbled seeing the Uzumaki was actually badly burned in a couple places. She lowered her hands in a sign of defeat as the clone poofed out of existence and Naruto took the kunai away from her throat. She turned around and frowned seeing that the blonde's clothes were mostly black with both his forearms being badly burned. The skin was pink and warped in a way that grossed Satsuki out. Worry shown in her eyes for a second before she looked at the blonde's forehead and saw a leaf headband now adorning it. A few seconds of thought process went into her look of frustration.

"So you passed after all, and how many times have I told you to just dodge my fireballs! I know you heal fast but this looks worse than any other time!" Satsuki growled out at Naruto who winced in pain looking at his arms. Swearing under her breath Satsuki pulled out a container from her back pouch and opened it up before scooping it up in her fingers.

"Satsuki what are you doi….." Naruto asked and was cut off as the girl slathered the creamy looking substance on his right forearm. Naruto's face took on a look of bliss as she proceeded to cover his forearms in the stuff until she was all out. She then proceeded to pull out a roll of bandages and wrap them around her rival's forearms. Naruto mused to himself as he looked at the last Uchiha, he had never talked to her before the massacre of her family but he liked to think this was her old self shining through. He started to remember the first time they really talked. Well that she talked to him.

 **Flashback time again!**

Naruto looked at the small lake he stood in front of, he remembered his sensei's instructions from last time. The fox was focusing all their efforts on controlling his chakra so they were now on the water walking exercise. Naruto took a deep breath and took his first step, being careful to control the chakra coming from his feet. A few seconds passed as he held his focus before he took a second step, then another and another. Naruto's focus was so vast that he didn't notice the raven haired girl looking at him with wide eyes from the opposite shore. He picked up his pace as he clenched his eyes shut. Unknowingly sending himself toward the girl. He felt his foot touch land and opened his eyes only to find himself looking into the deep black eyes of Satsuki Uchiha. The girl's eyes were red and puffy but still very pretty to the young blonde who began to blush a little.

"Ummmmm, hi?" Naruto said awkwardly as he took a step back from the girl and unceremoniously fell into the water with a splash. Satsuki giggled at the display as she wiped her tears away, her features took on a serious expression that looked rather cute on the young girl.

"You're my rival now!" Satsuki proclaimed out loud as Naruto looked at her, dumbfounded. She looked at the blonde expectantly but he continued to just stare wide eyed at her. She huffed in frustration before opening her mouth again. "What I mean is that I'm going to get stronger than you and do cool stuff like that, and it's your job to get stronger too. So I don't get bored, and when I eventually leave you in the dust I can go after that bastard!" Satsuki finished with a loud scream that scared Naruto, the blonde jumped back and fear and found himself creating another splash of water that sent the female Uchiha into a small fit of giggles as she watched the blonde flail about in panic.

 **Flashback Over!**

Naruto let a small warm smile slip unto his lips remembering the event, he found himself looking at Satsuki who had just finished wrapping his arms. His warm smile met her eyes and she quickly looked away. Avoiding eye contact with him.

"The Uchiha get burned while practicing a lot. So we had this developed a while ago. I've got barrels of it back home so don't worry about it." The girl said while avoiding her blonde rival's gaze. Naruto simply grinned in response to the Uchiha's help not noticing the small blush adorning her cheeks.

"Well thanks a lot Satsuki, you're a life-saver. And yes I passed, as you've already noticed. But in return for your help with my burns I guess I'll tell you what really happened…" Naruto said before recounting his little adventure courtesy of Mizuki. Of course he left out the bit's pertaining to his tenants but by the end he was able to tell essentially the entire story. By the end Satsuki seemed both impressed and angry, with a silver of some other emotion Naruto couldn't read.

"So you got to learn a bunch of forbidden techniques!?" Satsuki questioned in outrage, Naruto sweat-dropped seeing that she only cared about that specific part of his whole story. Before she could pressure him more Naruto decided to nip this issue in the butt.

"I only memorized how to do four techniques and I could only understand two of them so don't worry. The Hokage made me promise not to teach them so I guess you'll have to make do with your clan's exclusive Jutsu library." Naruto said before realizing what he said may have come of a little snarky, Satsuki winced a little realizing she still had the advantage over Naruto considering her family's long history of copying techniques and recording them. She was pretty sure if she looked hard enough she could find notes on all the techniques Naruto learned.

"Well I guess you don't have an excuse to lose any more of our spars eh? You might of surprised me with solid clones this time but I'll be ready next time" Satsuki said to him with a challenging smirk, Naruto grinned seeing she hadn't gotten mad at him for his comment. "Anyway as an apology I'll make you some dinner" Satsuki said offhandedly before her eyes widened and her cheeks heated up. Sure it seemed reasonable enough as his arms were too damaged for him to be able and cook himself anything. But still she would be cooking a homemade dinner for him.

"You sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden." Naruto said with sincerity and that only seemed to embolden Satsuki further as she practically started pushing him toward her home that was only a short walk away from this specific training ground. She was a woman of her word and she wouldn't let him weasel out of it. Little did she know that a fiery blush was now encompassing her face.

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"Mmmmmmmm smell's good, whatcha makin Satsuki?" Naruto said while humming pleasantly, he strolled around the female Uchiha's home occasionally stopping to examine a framed photo or a decorative piece of art. The place felt like a home to Naruto, somewhere to feel safe and loved. He waltzed over to Satsuki who was currently laying out two plates on the modest kitchen table. Each plate held a heaping portion of curry that seemed as though it belonged on a much larger dish.

"It's curry ya dumbass, your right it does smell good….itadakimasu" Satsuki said quickly before immediately digging into the dish. Naruto meanwhile was attempting to manipulate his chopsticks but his hands felt far to numb. Satsuki was already halfway through her dish when she looked over at Naruto who had his first bite halfway to his mouth only for his hand to falter and drop the food onto the tabletop. Naruto let several tears slip out as he looked down at his dear food that was so close yet so out of reach.

"Here dumbass, If you needed help ya should've asked" Satsuki said as she took a new seat directly beside Naruto. She grabbed a heaping glob of curry with her chopsticks before carefully directing it toward Naruto who was a little awestruck. Realizing what was happening Naruto let a small childish smile grace his face as he happily opened his mouth and let Satsuki deposit the food within before closing his lips and savoring the flavour. "Mmmmmmm, thanks Satsuki-chan" Naruto mumbled as he struggled to force the curry down, Naruto had been living by himself his whole life and it flabbergasted him how it could taste this bad. It looked delicious and smelled even more so but the second it touched his tongue Naruto felt every cell in his body screaming at him to not eat the food.

"How is it?" Satsuki questioned with large pleading eyes as if a negative review would break her whole world. Naruto cursed in his head as he swallowed the demon food and grinned before handily lying through his teeth. "Tastes great Satsuki-chan, you'd make a great wife." Naruto said hoping the second part of his statement would distract her from his clear nervousness and it sure did. She immediately grew a tick mark on her forehead as she whapped Naruto over the side of the head. "Dumbass there's no way I'd ever marry you so what are you thinking!" Satsuki yelled as Naruto grinned hearing that. Deciding to tease a little further the Uzumaki prodded.

"Hmm? I never said anything about being my wife Satsuki-chan, what is going through your head?" He asked with a small tease and before he could continue he had an oversized bite of food shoved into his mouth. Chewing the crude toxic abomination Naruto decided to not make her any angrier. She fed him the rest of his meal in comfortable silence, childish imaginations spinning through her head concerning the blonde. "That hit the spot, well Satsuki-chan thanks for the meal but I think I'm Gon…." Naruto never got to finish as he promptly passed out, his head colliding with the table as he heard a deep chuckle in the back of his head.

' **Let's see how this plays out'**

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Naruto's eyes shot open and he leaped into a standing position atop the cushioned mattress he had woken on, he surveyed the room and found he had no idea where he was. Finally the previous night's events played through his mind and it finally dawned on him. 'I'm in Satsuki's house now, she must have let me stay the night after I passed out'. Naruto thought as his attention shifted to the cause of his current predicament.

' **Darn I was hoping she would let you sleep in her bed. No mating for you today kit'** Kyuubi said in an almost serious tone that sent Naruto for a loop as he blushed furiously. Drowning out the demon foxes laughter Naruto jumped down to the floor and exited the room. He found the bathroom and as he relieved himself he saw a small bundle of clothes with a note on top.

'Naruto I checked your arms when I woke up and you're fully healed, it's weird but I don't care. Here are some clothes I found, get showered and put them on. I'll be back with breakfast then we are training.' Naruto could practically hear her demanding tone through the paper and decided to follow her orders. Registering what she said he looked at his forearms and noticed he no longer had bandages on and there was no apparent scarring. Naruto soon got into the shower and after a few minutes of debate decided girly shampoo was better than no shampoo. After washing himself he slipped the clothes on to find they were rather high quality. Black shinobi pants with strong elastic on both the waist and ankles, a dozen or so secret pockets adorned the pants and Naruto decided he would have to get some of these for himself. Slipping the shirt on he found it was a simple black muscle shirt with a low neck. The Uchiha symbol adorned the back, Naruto looked at the roll of medical tape that was also there and wrapped both his ankles and shin above the pant legs then his hands and forearms.

"Alright might as well work up a sweat while I wait for breakfast" Naruto thought to himself before heading out of the bathroom and locating the back door which lead to a large courtyard/training field. Quickly flipping through hand signs he slapped his hands onto his shins.

" **Sealing Art: Gravity Seal 5!"** Naruto felt the familiar pressure on his legs, he then proceeded to perform the same technique on his wrists. Underneath the bandages his permanent seals lit up with chakra. He always had a doubling gravity seal that spanned his entire body but for training these weights really helped him drain his stamina. The blonde crossed his fingers in a cross seal then channeled about half of his chakra.

" **Forbidden Art: Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** With that call 500 clones poofed into existence all around him filling the courtyard. They quickly spread in a circle around him as they individually cancelled the training gravity seals. Naruto pulled out a pair of odd tri-pronged kunai that he had seen a picture of in the forbidden scroll. He liked the look of them so he bought some from a small time weapons shop. They only had a dozen so he commissioned the creation of more for the future, he certainly wouldn't be eating well for the next month as he had spent way too much on the kunai.

"Here we come Boss!" The clones hollered out as they all prepared an assault, three launched themselves at him perfectly separated by 120 degrees on both sides. Naruto sheathed his kunai and stood his ground then waited for the second they all threw simultaneous punches. Diving forward at one slightly the two others missed their punches by centimetres, Naruto grabbed the extended arm that now rested above his shoulder. Quickly he slipped it over his back allowing its increased weight to crush the other two. Finally he spun on his heel breaking the arm he grasped causing the third to puff out of existence. Flowing forward from that he rolled forward rising up into an uppercut to dispel another clone. This pattern continued as Naruto weaved through attacks, never blocking. He simple weaved around attacks allowing the clones to dispel each other with their frenzied attacks. Finally one of the clones whistled loudly and they all jumped back from the blonde.

"Cool your heads boys we can still beat him yet, he only got us down to 300 with that. But we're not gonna play into his games anymore. Wait for him to attack then counter!" One of the clones shouted and the rest rallied with a battle cry as they formed their circle again. Naruto sighed as they always got smart by this point. Brandishing his two kunai he blurred forward in a flash of motion slicing the necks of two clones. Using the smokescreen supplied by their deaths de slid under the attacks of the clones behind them. Slicing the back of their ankles he slid to a stop in front of two clones preparing to jump hi. Spinning rapidly on the ground he kicked the two clones away before transferring the momentum into a handspring that launched him into mid-air. Once high above them threw a rain of shuriken that the tightly packed clones could not dodge.

"Naru….." Satsuki mumbled to herself as she entered the courtyard, She took a head count and found that there were currently 301 Naruto's in the courtyard. 500 of which were crowded around one who she assumed was the original. She watched as Naruto dispatched clone after clone despite all the strategy changes they were throwing at him. Not once did the blonde throw a single jutsu out. She also noticed his arms and legs were more sluggish than usual, assuming that meant weights she wondered why she couldn't see any bands on his arms.

"Oh hey Satsuki sorry I was just working out before training. What's for breakfast?" Naruto questioned before performing a quick jutsu release on his ankles and wrists. Satsuki took note of the seals that appeared on him as he formed the release seal. "Naruto you know sealing techniques?" Satsuki questioned as she placed two piles of dango on plates down. Naruto walked over wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"Yeah the old man said that I might have a talent for it so he gave me some notebooks. They're all written over with personal notes that really help though. Probably his old note books from his Jonin days or something" Naruto drawled on as he quickly dug into the food, Satsuki nodded hearing this knowing Naruto and the Hokage got along really well.

"So after all that you're still good to train all day?" Satsuki questioned as Naruto finished his plate. Naruto wiped his lips and grinned. "Hell yeah I've got stamina for days so don't worry about it." Naruto answered and Satsuki nodded as another question popped to mind.

"Well concerning that skill what did you just do with your wrists and ankles?" Satsuki asked and Naruto answered as he swiped a stick of Dango from the distracted Satsuki. She still caught his wrist with practiced ease. As he grinned sheepishly Naruto began to explain. "Gravity seals, they help me work up a sweat while training and deactivating them is easier than taking off weights. Makes for a good surprise in battle. You want one?" Naruto asked and Satsuki was quick to reply with a rapid head nod.

"Yes please! Hurry so we can get training!" Satsuki said with small stars in her eyes at the thought of the training boost. Naruto nodded as a small blush adorned his face. "Well you see I'm gonna need you to show me your back. For a full body seal it has to be on the back or chest. And you're um..." Naruto droned but Satsuki silenced him with a giggle before turning her back to him. Naruto's blush strengthened as she pulled her shirt off in a quick elegant motion that sent her hair waving beautifully. Pulling back in front of her shoulder she left her back bare besides the bra strap.

"umm, that too…" Naruto trailed off as a blush now sprung to Satsuki's face, she nodded as she reached around her back and with a quick movement the piece of white fabric loosened only held on loosely by the shoulder straps. Naruto slapped his cheeks to calm down and tapped his belly button, the source of all his equipment. A paintbrush and ink well poofed into existence as Naruto breathed slowly.

"Alright I'm gonna need you to relax your chakra network, I'm slipping my own chakra into your skin so if you tense a little your chakra network will repel me and it won't work. Naruto saw her nod her head slightly and watched as her breathing slowed. He opened the ink well and with a quick bite his thumb was bleeding. Several drops entered the ink well and if one focused they could see blue chakra disperse through the ink. Several tense seconds went by before Satsuki felt a brush tickle against her back. Several tense minutes went by as Naruto's hand moved expertly across the girl's smooth alabaster skin, his blush only supressed by his focus. Satsuki looked over her shoulder and seeing the focus the blonde was putting into her skin her blush increased tenfold.

"Alright that's good, now I've just gotta set the strength and the chakra will embed it into your chakra network. I'll start you at one and a half times regular gravity and you can move it up as you train more. But I'm the only one who can adjust it so let's hope we get the same team eh?" Naruto asked as Satsuki nodded, too focused on the blonde's statement about teams. He was the only one in the class she knew could keep pace with her so she silently hoped for that outcome as well.

" **Sealing Art: Gravity Seal 1.5!"** Naruto called as Satsuki felt warmth envelop her, the blonde's chakra flooded her coils for a quick second and suddenly it was gone. She felt herself craving that warmth once more but quickly schooled herself. "You can cloth yourself again" Naruto muttered as he quickly turned around. Satsuki did so faster than she should have been able to concerning the new weight. Finally she started to stand, only to find her legs buckle slightly. Naruto turned hearing her grunt of effort. He watched as she stood tall and stretched slowly, Slowly Satsuki started moving around and Naruto was happy she understood what was necessary.

"Alright let's train our heads off!" Naruto shouted with a grin that Satsuki returned.

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"Team 7 will be Satsuki Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Ken Yukimura under the tutelage of Kakashi Hatake" Iruka called out, both Naruto and Satsuki grunted in their seats. Satsuki was irked for a couple reasons she didn't want to think about and Naruto realized he wouldn't be on a team to help Satsuki. Iruka continued on with the teams and by the end Naruto realized he wasn't on any. Before he could complain Iruka's voice rung out again.

"And Naruto Uzumaki will be the personal protégé to…..Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin!?" Iruka proclaimed with a slight break in his voice reading the name of the legendary toad sage. Before anybody else could comment a massive puff of smoke sprung forth in the middle of the classroom. A very tall white haired man wearing a red overcoat and brandishing the kanji for oil on a horned headband appeared atop an armoured toad roughly the size of a bear.

"I am the great Jiraiya! Epitome of manliness and….." He was cut off by a flying drop kick curtesy of Naruto, said kick sent the Sannin crashing into the wall of the classroom. Naruto stood there with an embarrassed blush on his face as he picked up the dizzy eyed Sannin and jumped out the window.

"Sorry about that everyone!" Naruto shouted as the large toad puffed out of existence behind the two. Every student plus Iruka simply sat there with wide eyes at what had occurred in front of them. None quite registering it until several minutes passed.

"What the Fuck!?" Kiba shouted, speaking everyone's thoughts at the moment.

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"So brat aren't you glad that you get to be my protégé?" Jiraiya questioned with a grin as he and Naruto sat cross legged opposite each other in a random training field. Naruto was holding a water balloon in his hand and focusing extremely hard on it. 'The Old man did say Naruto found the notes on the Rasengan and Hiraishin. I'll let him try things himself but if he comes to me for help I'll tell him everything I know about those techniques.' Jiraiya thought to himself as the water balloon burst open suddenly. He looked over wide eyed as Naruto cheered at the result before pulling a rubber ball out of seemingly nowhere, he assumed sealing was involved.

"That's quite the coincidence you succeeded just now. Eh Naruto?" Jiraiya questioned and Naruto broke away from his focus momentarily to regard him.

"I know you taught the fourth and he certainly taught you this technique. So I wanted to show you what I had done already so you didn't accuse me of skipping a step." Naruto said somewhat childishly as Jiraiya nodded in understanding. He watched the blonde continue to focus on the rubber ball in his hand and the Sannin grinned in approval of his new protégé, 'just like his father'. As Jiraiya mused silently Naruto thought about the Toad Sage, he had visited and trained Naruto once every year since he was 6 so the guy was already in his good books. 'Is this what an uncle would be like?' Naruto thought to himself before ignoring his own thoughts as the rubber ball in his hand blew a small hole in the side. Groaning angrily another one appeared out of the seal in his stomach allowing him to continue.

"Say Naru….." Jiraiya was cut off as a rain of senbon embedded themselves in the side of his head, Naruto's eyes turned sharp and became more of an electric blue as he flashed the release hand seal allowing his whole body gravity seal to expel. The extra speed boost allowed him to easily dodge a rain of shuriken that now occupied his previous position. Naruto paid close attention to where the shuriken came from and when a branch rustled slightly he let loose a hail of shuriken that appeared in his hands from seals in his arms. Naruto used his keen hearing to determine they struck wood and was fast to create 10 shadow clones around himself. In the following puff of smoke he transformed into a kunai and allowed one of his clones to brandish him while the rest pulled out kunai of their own. Wordlessly they all took off into the forest in different directions.

"I know your there, come on out!" The Naruto clone said in a crisp monotone that sent a shiver up the assailant's spine as she stepped out from behind a tree, however being the Jonin she was the women didn't show a hint of that slight nervousness. Naruto still in kunai form assessed the woman and finding she wore the traditional Jonin garb of a Hidden Stone Shinobi he ground his teeth. Naruto hoped his clone would be able to come up with the plan he was thinking of. Naruto watched as the woman interacted with his Shadow clone.

"Clever boy, now time to die!" The woman yelled as she leaped high through the air, as the clone prepared to throw him Naruto's spirit lifted. The Clone would throw him as hard as possible and send him far away from the enemy shinobi. His clone threw him with a grunt of effort and Naruto's breathed a sigh of relief as the woman dodged deftly out of the way of the projectile as he expected. What he did not expect was for her to skillfully pluck him out of mid-air before throwing him back at the clone with amazing speed. The clone had no chance as Naruto sailed through him before embedding in the ground. The impact being enough to force him back into his original form.

"You idiot I'm a Jonin, why do you think I left those other clones alone. You were the only one with two chakra signatures. Once you were separated from the clone it was easy to tell you had your own chakra signature. I was hoping the clone would be the kunai though. Might have been able to end this quicker, oh well more time for us to play. The woman said before licking her lips and landing on the ground gently, Naruto scrambled to his feet as she flashed through Hand seals.

" **Earth Style: Boulder Storm Jutsu!"** The woman called out before stomping her foot down, in compliance several dozen large boulders launched up into the air, around her and with another hand seal they were all sent flying at him. Holding his right hand in a half tiger seal Naruto squinted his eyes in concentration. He blurred into motion as his body moved with a speed one could only recognize as a blur in the corner of their eye. Phasing between and around the boulders Naruto was beside the woman faster than she could see. Using her surprise to his advantage Naruto launched a spinning back kick into her side. The woman flew several feet and this allowed the blonde to draw one of his special kunai out. Seeing the Kunai he drew the woman's eyes widened in surprise before the kunai was embedded in her forehead curtesy of Naruto's chakra enhanced throw. Naruto grinned before in a puff of smoke the woman disappeared, quickly scanning the area Naruto moved with rapid concentration as a new presence appeared behind him. Naruto attempted a backhand but his fist was caught by a large man's hands. Looking over his shoulder in fear Naruto sweat dropped seeing the Pervy sage grinning immensely. He momentarily mulled over the possibility of a fake but he could just feel that this was really the sage.

"Good job Naruto, you took that Shadow clone apart. Even if it was holding back immensely. Still the clone was fighting at Low chuunin level." Jiraiya praised already knowing the reason for the quick victory was his clones surprise seeing the three pronged kunai his last student favoured. Naruto let a small smile slip unto his features hearing Jiraiya's approval and before he could reply with a sly comment on if the sage was truly holding back Jiraiya took the initiative in speaking.

"Usually you would be doing D-Rank missions with your team to improve your team work but being a solo team that will be difficult. So the Hokage will be sending you with other Genin teams on missions. Your first mission is with team Gai today. They should be waiting at the gate in…2 minutes." Jiraiya said with a childish grin and the second the word processed Naruto took off in a blur of speed, leaving Jiraiya to cough on the dust he had kicked up.

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	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for your support everyone, oh there's one thing that need's addressing and that's some background info on how I write my Fic's. These are things that are predominant in all of my Fic's unless otherwise stated. First would be that the academy graduation age is 14 instead of 12, I mostly use this to give the characters more time to train as children and to make slightly more mature content less weird. Also I choose to heighten the abilities of all the characters for more interesting fights. So while it might seem like my characters are overpowered when fighting cannon fodder just wait for real shinobi on shinobi combat and I think you'll find all the characters have strength proportional to their experience and special abilities. But without further ado let's get on with this thing! Oh and for those wondering no sexy time until post time-skip, I could get away with that back when I was their age but now it's kinda creepy. But again I say let's get on with it!

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"How truly brimming with youth is this day my beloved Genin!?" Shouted a tall man clad in a green jumpsuit to his three Genin, the man's bowl cut hair and massive eyebrows did wonders to cancel out what could have once been handsome features. The three Genin before him consisted of a miniature version of himself along with a male Hyuuga garbed in simple White top and black shorts, next to him was a girl dressed in a Chinese style top and whose hair was tied up tightly in two buns that resembled panda ears. His miniature shouted excitedly in response while the other two just seemed disturbed. "For today is the day that a most youthful Shinobi shall join us on our mission, I introduce to you NARUTO UZUMAKI!" With guy's signal a massive cloud of smoke arose between him and his students and as the cloud dissipated it revealed an extremely embarrassed Naruto.

"G-Gai-sensei I know you mean well but isn't this a bit much?" Naruto questioned and with that both Green clad audience members wilted in despair at Naruto's lack of enthusiasm. However Gai was immediately back to his insane energy levels and before Naruto could introduce himself properly the man stepped in.

"Most youthful Naruto I would like to introduce you to my lovely Genin team, from left to right they are Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga and TenTen" Lee Exploded out in energy and was quick to grasp Naruto's hand with a solid grip. "How wonderful to meet you Naruto, I'm sure Gai-sensei would never overestimate your levels of youthfulness. I am Rock Lee a Taijutsu specialist!" Naruto shook the boys hand with a warm smile and then was approached by the Hyuuga. He seemed to scan Naruto for a short time and nod his head.

"Hello Uzumaki-san I am Neji Hyuuga and I will hold high hopes for your abilities based on Gai-sensei's opinion of you." The boy shook Naruto's hand politely and stepped back which allowed TenTen to bounce forward with a wide grin on her face. "He's usually not that polite but we heard from Sensei you're the apprentice of a Sannin so we were all a little excited, have you met Tsunade-sama yet?" TenTen asked excitedly and she was pried away from the blonde by Neji a second later. Gai took this time to start walking toward the nearby village gates and only then did Naruto realize that entire spectacle had taken place in the middle of busiest street in the village. He calmed his intense blush and proceeded forth with the team. All of them seemingly used to a wordless departure.

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"Naruto come up here so I can share the specifics of our mission with you." Gai asked as the entire team sailed through the foliage, they had been moving at that speed since they left the village 3 hours ago and the strain was visible on the faces of his temporary team mates. Lee's legs were starting to make craters in the branches, he assumed some weights were involved. The entire team stopped suddenly and Naruto was next to Gai as they landed.

"We have been tasked with the elimination of a Bandit group, no prisoners to take or lessons to teach. This is murder plain and simple." Gai said suddenly with a serious look in his eyes, his students all seemed to already be aware of this but Naruto took a second before he nodded his head. He understood why Jiraiya had sent him on a mission so early. This was something a shinobi needed to learn early on in their career.

' **How about you let me out for this kid? You're too soft for this kind of stuff'** The Kyuubi taunted with what Naruto could imagine to be a massive grin on its vulpine features. Naruto gave his reply in a quick surge of negativity toward the fox. It was a good form on non-verbal communication Naruto had learned to stop from looking like a crazy person when he interacted with the fox in his head. Naruto refocused on Gai who was looking him hard and the eyes, the man seemed curious about something but it looked like he would leave it until later as he addressed his whole team.

"3 clicks north of here we will find a small encampment that is home to a dozen men, we were picked for this mission due to our ability as a team and our individual strengths in one on one combat. All twelve of them are bandits with high bounties, well that is for normal people. If one of you went rouge your bounties would eclipse theirs by several times but that is due in part to village secrets and techniques being held in your minds. Do not underestimate their combat prowess despite their lack of chakra usage. You'll find that everyday people tap into their chakra all the time without realizing this and that is were truly dangerous vagrants are born." Gai's serious expression never faltered and in response all present took on equally serious attitudes. Gai straightened up and took off once again. The four Genin followed suit, hours seemed to pass during that short dash and they suddenly stopped. The five shinobi took positions in a large tree at the edge of a large field. At the centre of the field there was a collection of hide tents and the sounds of laughter could be heard from within.

"We've got 10 with negligible chakra signatures but two of them have developed coils, they seem to be that of a rather weak Chuunin, sensei." Neji mentioned with a slight scoff, Gai gave him a hard look and the boy hardened his eyes and continued. He mapped out the positions of the enemy with a kunai on the side of the tree and Gai nodded and a second of thought later he came to a decision.

"TenTen, Lee, and Neji I want you three to take the chakra signature to the left, I'll take the one to the right. Naruto I want you to distract the remaining ten until we can get back to assist you" Gai commanded and while the blonde was irked he was being settled with the grunts he assumed it was based on his teammates better experience. All he really had to do was hold out anyway. They all nodded and a moment later Team Gai plus Naruto leapt into action.

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' **You sure you don't wanna let me intervene?'** the Kyuubi questioned and Naruto shook his head while staring down the group of bandits, he had made his way across the field under the illusion of a squirrel and now he was back in his regular form crouched behind a pile of barrels. Judging by the scent he could guess they were some type of alcohol. Steadying his breath the blonde pulled out one of his three pronged kunai and gripped it tightly. He held a half tiger seal and in a fraction of a second he was behind one of the bandits. He tugged the man's hair and slit his throat in one fluid motion. His gaze met the next closest enemy and all the man say was electric blue eyes before he found his throat spraying blood in all directions. Naruto dropped into a crouch to avoid a throwing axe and flashed through hand seals.

" **Wind Style: Savage Cyclone!"** Naruto called out as he spun three hundred and sixty degrees in his crouching position, in response a powerful whirlwind surged outward from him and sent the makeshift tents and equipment flying in all directions. When the dust from the technique settled he could see two separate engagements taking place in the distance. The rest of his team were taking on the real enemy. That left him to clean up to grunts. He refocused and found that the 8 men left where now all armed and standing around Naruto in a circle. Nothing moved for several seconds until a barrage of throwing knifes erupted from the coats of two bandits to his left. Naruto formed a shadow clone that threw him toward the barrage. Naruto held the palm of his free hand to the base of his kunai. A blade of blue chakra extended from said kunai making it look more like a short sword with the two smaller prongs extending into a guard. Naruto flew through the cloud of knives and came out the other side unscathed, suddenly as if reality was lagging behind slightly all the knifes fell to the ground, all but a couple were cut in half down the center.

"Your technique needs work." Naruto muttered as he flew between the two knife throwers, showers of blood erupted from their necks as he passed. The boy skidded to a stop just in time to sidestep a pair of kusarigama that both attempted to bisect him. A large man with an axe ran up to him with above average speed and attempted a horizontal strike. The blonde timed his crouch just right to allow himself to attach his hand to the flat side of the axe. Chakra allowed him to stick his hand to the weapon and the man's swing gave him the momentum to go flying toward the kusarigama wielder. A wicked mid-air roundhouse impacted with the man's face resulting in a broken neck. Naruto picked up the man's weapon and whirled the small sickle in the air with intense speed before letting it fly at the axe wielder. The man swept the lighter weapon to the side just in time for Naruto to come sliding under his legs. Just as he passed underneath the man Naruto let lose a regular kunai the embedded itself in the man's throat. The massive man fell and created enough dust to cloak Naruto's form for several seconds.

"What the Hell, where are Genji and Hiruko? Weren't they supposed to take care of any ninja!?" One of the remaining four mercenaries yelled as he held his katana in a shaky grip, the five formed a circle with their backs facing inward. They watched the dust cloud dissipate to reveal….no blonde. All of them broke out in a cold sweat and looked around in a panic, suddenly something donned on them. There were only four of them left but five men were forming the circle.

"Too Late." Naruto muttered as he dropped his transformation and in a flurry of movement three of the four had their necks slit by his kunai, the one with the katana was able to block Naruto's strike and send him flying with a front kick. The blonde landed on his feet several metres away and looked at the man who seemed resolve to fight till the death. Naruto sighed and held a half tiger seal. Faster than the man could comprehend the blonde was in his blind spot and just as he saw those insanely sharp eyes he felt warmth all over as blood sprayed from his neck. Naruto watched the man fall unceremoniously and a few moments passed before he saw the rest of his team running up to him in the distance. He quickly reapplied his Gravity seals and wiped his kunai on the man's clothes.

"Guess you didn't need the help eh Naruto-kun?" Lee said with an excited thumbs up, Naruto grinned and gave a thumbs up in return. It was all they could do to stay positive, this smell was something they would have to get used to. This pungent aroma of blood.

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"Naruto-kun?" Tenten questioned as she walked toward the blonde, who himself was sitting high up in a tree branch gazing at the sky with misty blue eyes. After receiving no response she jumped up and landed next to the blonde on the branch with barely a sound. Taking a seat next to him she momentarily joined him in star gazing. Several long moments passed before the blonde finally spoke.

"I guess this is something you get used to?" Naruto questioned with a shaky voice as he regarded TenTen's presence, the girl took in a deep breath and thought before answering. This was a delicate question after all.

"Not really honestly, I'm sure even Gai-sensei hasn't gotten used to it yet. Which may seem like a mark of a bad shinobi, but much more importantly than that it lets us know we're still people. I get scared thinking about a day when I can take a life without regret, and I'm happy about how I am now. Nonetheless I have accepted what I have to do, just always remember that despite what we do we are the good guys Naruto." TenTen stated with a teary eyed smile, this caused Naruto's eyes to widen with regret.

"Oh god TenTen I'm so sorry I didn't mean too…" Naruto rambled as he attempted to wipe up the girls tears but he was stopped when the girl took hold off his wrists and lowered them. Naruto looked into her eyes which held so much kindness and empathy. Finally the blonde felt something break in him as he fell forward into TenTen's waiting arms. He felt hot tears fall down his face and onto her shoulder as she gently patted him on the back. The blonde's arms snaked around her waist and gripped the back of her shirt tightly. He was so ashamed of showing this kind of weakness but at the same time he was silently thanking TenTen profusely for being right here with him.

"It's alright Naruto, this isn't weakness. Keeping it all inside would have been truly weak." TenTen spoke softly as Naruto finally seemed to be calming down, he held the embrace for several moments longer before breaking his embrace and presenting a wide thankful smile to the girl. No words needed to be exchanged so the two hopped down from the tree and walked back to the camp. Both feeling better in a way.

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Sweat dripped from Naruto's chin as he forced himself off the ground once more in what seemed like a normal push-up. However if one were to look closely they would see his fingertips were floating a centimetre above the ground curtesy of small jets of chakra blasting from his fingertips. His state of shiftlessness also showed the massive sealing array running from his back to his wrists and arms. His training weights were all active, so in addition to his entire body weighing three times as heavy, his arms and legs weighed five times heavier than normal. He counted off his set and was quick to jump up unto his feet in a crouching position. Finally with his focus broken he finally noticed another presence nearby. He looked up to see Jiraiya standing several metres away from him with a wide grin.

"Naruto those are some pretty advanced seals you've got there. I'd say the Rasengan isn't the only thing you have in common with ol Minato. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying for…" "If you're about to say Hiraishin then you'd be wrong in assuming I'm not doing so. I am indeed working toward that technique." Naruto finished for Jiraiya with a serious look in his eyes but soon after that he slipped into a childish smile with a hint of red adorning his cheeks. "Though I will admit it seems a long way off from what I can do now" Naruto muttered with a heavy blush adorning his cheeks.

"Well I don't expect you to make it there for another 5 years at least, but maybe you'll surprise me. Anyway Naruto I know it's been a couple weeks since your mission with Team Gai so I got you a new mission. Tomorrow morning you'll be meeting Team 7 at the village gates, prepare for a two week mission just in case. But for now I'd say it's time for us to spar." Jiraiya finished with a grin and Naruto was quick to deactivate all his gravity seals. The two matched grin's before Naruto held a half tiger seal and disappeared in a blur of speed, he appeared in the air beside Jiraiya's head with the Toad Sage grasping his leg before he could even begin his attack. "Guess Body Flicker alone won't be good enough against you sensei." Naruto said as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke revealing that to be a clone. Jiraiya's eyes widened as he blocked an accelerated axe kick from the blonde, jets of chakra shot out of the blonde's attacking leg and it seemed ready to break the Sage's block until chakra shot out of the Sage's arms to send the blonde flying.

"You think chakra propulsion is something that would surprise me Naruto? You should know my sensei is the one who invented that technique." Jiraiya said as he readjusted his stance and waited for the blonde's next attack. The blonde landed with a small grunt and matched gazes with the Sage. The blonde withdrew two fistfuls of shuriken and let them loose at the same time he flashed through hand seals.

" **Wind Style: Gale Palm!"** Naruto shouted and he seemed to lose his focus on the technique near the end, sending it crashing into the ground several feet in front of him. The ensuing dirt cloud covered a large portion of the field. Jiraiya whipped his hair around rapidly, a small whirlwind ensued and the dust was quickly blown away and a coughing Naruto was revealed. Jiraiya shook his head at his pupil's foolishness and decided to take matters into his own hands. He surged forward at the blonde and was met with a hasty dodge and counter that didn't manage to land. He pursued the blonde for several seconds before he finally landed a chop to the boy's neck. However he was met with a cloud of smoke that seemed to signal something as all around him similar clouds of smoke bloomed into existence. He soon found himself surrounded by ten Naruto's who were all halfway through hand seals.

" **Wind Style: Gale Palm/ Earth Style: Boulder Missile!"** The Naruto's shouted in tandem as they teamed up in pairs and combined the individual techniques, Jiraiya soon found 5 dog sized boulders moving at him with insane wind-assisted speed. He looked up for his escape but found another blonde falling with a heavy axe kick, the sage clicked his tongue and opted out of the Hari Jizou. He didn't want to risk his pupil with a technique that dangerous. Instead he flexed his hand and allowed a sphere of dense chakra to burst forth.

" **Rasengan!"** Jiraiya shouted as he spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees, every single boulder was torn to pieces by the powerful jutsu and shrapnel was sent flying at the 10 Naruto's surrounding him. 10 clouds of smoke erupted to signal the deaths of the clones. Finally Jiraiya used his free hand to grip the last Naruto's ankle just as the axe kick nearly connected. He sent the blonde flying toward a nearby tree with ease. Naruto was quick to form a clone that was able to slow the blonde's momentum by digging its feet into the earth while gripping the originals shoulders. When the clone dispersed Naruto was able to stop his own momentum by digging a kunai into the earth. He looked up at Jiraiya who was cracking his neck, seemingly no effort had been expended by the Sannin and Naruto planned to change that by the end of this spar. He took off at the sage with new vigour, he was in for a long afternoon.

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' **So kid let's see how you've progressed so far'** Kurama said down to the blonde that was facing him in the mindscape, the fox grinned from behind his bars at the blonde which caused Naruto to nod and sit in a cross-legged position. Red chakra launched up around him and launched at the blonde, it siphoned into every inch of his skin and as a result he was now covered in a red cloak from head to toe. The cloak while only being an inch thick still seemed dangerous as the volatile chakra bubbled around like some sort of viscous liquid.

' **Now Naruto this is my chakra under my control, I need you to gain control of it and effectively take it from my control. This will break you of the bloodlust that would usually plague a Jinchuuriki'** the fox stated matter-of-factly and Naruto responded by flaring his own bright blue chakra. The blue chakra blasted the red cloak off of the blonde and seemed to battle with the red chakra for several moments. Finally it seemed as though the blue would win but Naruto's focus faltered and the red chakra was quick to blast the blue chakra away in all directions. The red chakra surged toward Naruto with a hungry energy but the Kyuubi easily reigned in the red chakra and it siphoned into the tip of one of its tails.

"Dammit I was closer that time, but why would you let me control your chakra? It doesn't seem right to just take it from you like that." Naruto said innocently enough and the fox huffed angrily and somewhat cockily in response. Its vulpine features twisted into what Naruto could only assume was the fox's version of a condescending smirk.

' **Foolish kit, what you felt just now was only half a tail's worth of my power. I can regenerate that within an hour, well that would be the case if I was not trapped inside this damned seal. As it stands It takes me about a day to regenerate that much. But don't consider it taking it as I can will my power back any time I choose, consider it a gift you must earn with your own strength'** The fox said as Naruto regained his energy and stood up straight, seeing the brat was finally getting serious the fox grinned and sent another blast of red chakra at him. 'This brat could prove to be a little amusing'.

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"Yo Naruto!" A silver haired youth yelled from a distance as he ran up to the blonde, Naruto took stock of his old classmate and found that the boy had gone through a big wardrobe change since the academy. The boy wore Black Shinobi style pants and long sleeved top which matched his black shinobi sandals. Several ninja pouches adorned the belt at his waist and a kunai holster was attached firmly over medical tape on his leg. The odd part of the getup was the face mast that covered everything below the boy's nose in an opaque black fabric that did not look pleasant to breathe through.

"Hey there Ken I see you've changed a bit since the academy. Getting serious now?" Naruto questioned with a smirk as the two traded a quick fist bump, as Naruto got closer to the group he finally saw Kakashi and he felt a comically large sweat drop fall down his face. Ken certainly had modelled himself after the Jonin, images of Lee leapt through Naruto's mind and he shivered.

"So your Jiraiya-sama's apprentice? Good to have you with us for this mission, it's just a C-Rank but you can never be too careful." Kakashi droned out while taking a lazy posture, Naruto watched as Ken adopted the same pose and he felt the sweat drop double in size. Finally his eyes landed on Satsuki who seemed to be purposefully avoiding his gaze. He walked up to her with a semi-cheeky smile on his face and got rather close to the Uchiha Heiress. The poor girl switched her eyes to him for a second before blushing more and switching her gaze back to the sky.

"I see you've gotten some new clothes." Satsuki mentioned through clenched teeth and Naruto took the moment to consider the attire Jiraiya had picked up for him. It consisted of black ANBU style pants tucked into medical tape. Said medical tape went all the way to his Navy blue ninja sandals. Covering Naruto's torso was a simple black mesh long sleeve that clung to his form comfortably, the most prominent piece of equipment would be his red haori which was near identical to Jiraiya's save in place of red spots on both breasts, intricate seals were inscribed within navy blue circles. The blonde's Forehead protector was displayed proudly on his forehead and did wonders to keep the blondes spiky hair out of his eyes.

"You Like what you see Satsuki-chan?" Naruto questioned cheekily, in response the Uchiha heiress attempted to launch a cut kick at his stomach, in response the blonde whirled around her and tapped the small of her back. A shiver ran of Satsuki's spine and this gave Naruto the time to flash through some hand seals.

" **Sealing Art: Gravity Seal 2"** Naruto said and he slapped the girls back over her shirt, immediately Satsuki felt the weight on her body, the Uchiha nearly buckled to the ground but was soon able to accustom herself to the new weight. "Ya seem to be used to your current seal so I took it upon myself to increase the weight for you." Naruto said with an innocent smile that spoke in direct contrast to the clearly mischievous motives of his actions.

"Now now you two we can't have any flirting on the mission." Ken droned in a Kakashi-esque tone that both Naruto and Satsuki were embarrassed to watch. Several awkward seconds passed before the two feuding youth's decided to devote their efforts to holding in their chuckles. Ken seemed oblivious to the situation and sighed in a bored manner, he walked off and in the process pulled out a small orange book.

"He reads those now too!?" Naruto asked with a small wheeze as he reigned himself in. Satsuki broke out into giggles and nodded her head. "Yeah you should have seen the first time he opened one up. He almost fainted by the third page. But he willed himself forward and now he claims to love the series" Satsuki said with a small smile playing on her lips, Naruto momentarily lost his focus on the world and shifted his attention to that expression.

"What the hell are you staring at!?" Satsuki yelled as a firm hand slapped Naruto several feet away, landing on his ass Naruto only replied with a kind smile that Satsuki had to look away from less she blush even more. 'Damn him and those eyes' she thought as she started walking with the rest of the team. Those of which had started walking away a short time ago. Clearly they didn't want to interrupt the pair's reunion. Naruto decided to catch up and took off at a sprint toward the group. He then took stock of the entire group, it consisted of Team 7 led by Kakashi and an old man Naruto could place as a drunk at first glance. Though the drunkard held an unmistakable air of nervousness that the alcohol did well to mask. Naruto knew he had always been sensitive to these things, so he decided to drop it. The man was probably just nervous about a bunch of kids being his bodyguards. He walked up next to Satsuki and matched the girl's pace as the group continued their sedate pace. Naruto walked like that for over an hour before finally regarding the female Uchiha.

"So you been training hard?" Naruto questioned and the finally calm Satsuki regarded him with a somewhat haughty expression that Naruto could tell wasn't serious at all. However it still irked him in an odd way.

"Well of course I have, you should know that I've already learned several new Fire Style Jutsu along with several new Ninja Arts. I'm pretty sure from here on out I'll be the one winning all our spars." Satsuki finished with a challenging smirk that Naruto opted out of replying too, he simply smiled nonchalantly as his focus momentarily shifted to a nearby puddle. He leaned in toward Satsuki's face in a way he hoped would look like a kiss and quickly whispered in her ear. "Deactivate your seals, we have an attack from the back coming." Satsuki's heavy blush subsided immediately and both youth's held a hidden half tiger seal and could both immediately feel the loss of weight on their bodies. As if on cue two shapes leapt forward toward Kakashi, Naruto and Satsuki were so shocked by the sudden rush of speed that Kakashi was in ribbons on the ground by the time they were attacking the two men.

" **Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"** Satsuki yelled and a quick barrage of small fireballs scared the two assailants away from the group, Sakura and Ken took defensive positions with wide fearful eyes. The attackers were both cloaked in unfamiliar shinobi garbs and brandished massive clawed gauntlets attached by a heavy and sharp looking chain. Based on their features one would easily say they were brothers or even twins. Realizing close quarters would not end well both Naruto and Satsuki made momentary eye contact before flashing through hand seals.

" **Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu/ Wind Style: Gale Palm!"** The two teens yelled in unison as Satsuki's massive fireball was given new speed and greater destruction capability due to Naruto's Blast of wind chakra. Their two opponent's eyes widened as one of them used the chain connecting their gauntlets to throw the other toward Tazuna and out of harm's way. The chain snapped off at the height of the throw allowing the thrown ninja the greatest speed possible. Naruto and Satsuki's technique impacted the stationary brother and in explosion of fire and wind he was sent sailing through several trees.

"Gaaaaah" Ken yelled as he stopped one of the clawed gauntlets with his hand, Sakura looked to the boy standing beside her with teary eyes, she had not been quick enough to defend Tazuna from the assault. Naruto swore to himself and felt the familiar speed of the body flicker, what surprised him was that he wasn't using his usual half tiger seal. Paying it no mind the blonde appeared on the ground behind the attacker. With practiced finesse the blonde swept the man's legs out from under him and allowed the man to fall back, whipping out a kunai Naruto planted the man firmly into the ground with the knife through his neck. The body he had skewered however was quick to turn into a split log, the blonde cursed and looked to Satsuki who was rushing toward them with worry in her features. The one he had missed appeared behind her in a Body Flicker and Naruto immediately felt the Nine Tails Chakra bubble forth from his core. Though he quickly reigned it in seeing Kakashi appear behind the attacker and knock him out with ease. The blonde breathed heavily for a few seconds and was quick to shift his attention to Ken who looked surprised that Kakashi was still alive. The boy's hand sustained a massive gash along its palm and Naruto took the boy's hand as Satsuki skidded to a halt next to them.

"Based on the colour of that blood it's poison, Ken I need you to clench your teeth." Satsuki asked as she ripped some medical tape from her pouch and wrapped it around the boy's bicep before pulling on it with all her force. Meanwhile Naruto was using a minor water jutsu to pull out the tainted blood from his team mates body, Kakashi had tied up the still living attacker and he ran up to them. Seeing that the two were taking care of the situation properly he left them too it. Soon Ken was confirmed free of any more poison and seemed a little faint for it. Naruto had after all drawn out a lot of blood, admittedly more than was necessary but caution was key.

"Alright team I want you all to take a breather and reflect on what could have been done better, though I am proud of all of you." Kakashi said with an eye-smile, the cyclops walked up to Tazuna and the old man's skin broke out in a cold sweat from the killing intent. "Now I think I'll have a chat with Mr. Tazuna here" Kakashi finished in a sickly sweet tone that made the entire group shiver a little. Naruto momentarily complained in his head that nothing he was involved in ever went as planned.

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Well how'd you guys like it? I was going to shove in the entire Wave Arc but I felt like I could extend that into another chapter or two. Now I know it's rough to read sometimes and I'm sure I could fix most of it with a quick proof-read. But I get too excited and just want to start on the next chapter. So I would like to once again voice my need for a Beta, help a guy out haha? Anywho I'll see you all next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey there everyone thanks' for the great support so far, nothing really to say besides that I'm still looking for a beta for this story. Hope you enjoy it, I had to cut it a bit short but I promise the next chapter will be worth it.

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"So let's get this straight Kakashi-sensei, Tazuna's country is being controlled by some corrupt shipping magnate named Gato. This Gato guy has all of the country's resources controlled through his monopoly of the shipping in the area. So if this bridge is completed it means he loses that power. Due to this he want's Tazuna dead, and you said yourself he has the money to hire someone as strong as or stronger than you?" Naruto labelled of as a serious Kakashi and a roughed up looking Tazuna looked at the four Genin, Kakashi had just explained the situation to them and was leaving the final decision up to them.

"Don't forget he only lied because the people of the country couldn't afford a higher ranked mission." Sakura chimed in and Naruto nodded at that, though seeing the old man's pleading eyes he felt something with him giving away. He looked to Satsuki who nodded, he then turned his head to the much more frightened looking Ken and Sakura, to his surprise the two nodded their heads as well.

"Well Tazuna-san it looks like you're in luck, we can't allow a whole country to suffer when we could have done something about it." Tazuna's eyes lit up and he was about to start cheering when he felt cold steel against his neck. A sweat broke out as he turned his eyes to the blonde behind him, looking back to the boy's original position his eyes widened seeing the afterimage flicker out of existence.

" **Just do try and be straight with us from now on, if my friends get hurt again because of something you neglected to inform us of. You'll be the one I seek revenge against."** Naruto growled out into the man's ear, being sure not to let his fellow Genin hear. He pushed the Kyuubi's chakra back down within himself as he stepped back from Tazuna, an eerily calm smile adorning his face.

"Sound good Tazuna-san?" Naruto asked in a sickly-sweet voice, Tazuna's fear would only let him nod rapidly in response. Kakashi looked at his blonde charge with an amused glint in his eye and Naruto grinned sheepishly seeing all the attention was now on him. Turning on his foot he began trekking forth once again. "Alright team let's head out!" The group chuckled at the blonde's abashed response to their attention and followed along. They had a long trip ahead of them.

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"Hey Ken." Kakashi said as he walked beside his student, the poor boy's hand was swollen badly but his life was no longer in danger according to Kakashi's prognosis. However his hand certainly wouldn't be forming hand seals for at least a week.

"Y-yes Kakashi-sama?" Ken asked with childish glee at his idol's attention, not responding to the new honorific Kakashi simply placed him and on the boy's head. Ruffling the silver locks in the process. Ken felt an embarrassed blush overtake him as Kakashi raised his fist toward the boy.

"You did good back there." The Jonin said simply and Ken smiled widely before bumping fists with Kakashi, the Jonin eye-smiled before rustling Ken's hair more. With a pat on the back Kakashi sent Ken back to the other Genin at the front of the group. As Ken and Sakura talked about the fight and how they would have to train harder Naruto and Satsuki were watching the exchange with small smiles on their faces.

"Hey Naruto, why do you think Ken idolizes Kakashi so much?" Satsuki asked and Naruto seemed to dwell on it for a time, finally after several minutes Satsuki began to think the blonde had fallen asleep while walking. She was about to start talking again but he suddenly chimed in.

"Well I know him from the orphanage, his parents died in the Kyuubi attack like mine so we got to being friends. He always said he wanted to become an ANBU captain because he had been told by one of matrons at the orphanage that he had been saved by a well-known ANBU code-named INU. Ever since then he's been training so he could be an ANBU captain, I think in meeting Kakashi he finally met someone who he felt was what he needed to become. I'm sure Ken is too nervous to ask if Kakashi was in ANBU but it's fairly obvious based on his ranking in the Bingo Book. Which I know for a fact Ken has memorized. But it looks like Ken thinks that the best way to become ANBU material is to imitate someone who he believes exhibits those traits in spades." Naruto finished and Satsuki nodded at that, she mulled over the idea in her head for a time but finally settled herself on not digging into it. How Ken wanted to get strong was none of her business. The group soon found themselves boarding a small boat but the man at the engine said they were one over max capacity.

"I'll just walk." Kakashi said nonchalantly and a second later he was walking lazily over the surface of the water.

"I will too!" Ken shouted in excitement but the second his foot hit the water he quickly broke the surface and fell into the murky sea. Pooping back up, he grinned sheepishly before abashedly climbing into the boat. Soon the group was sailing through the water at a moderate pace, Kakashi greatly undersold the quiet motors power by jogging alongside them with what looked like little to no effort.

"So Tazuna how much longer once we hit land?" The silver haired man asked calmly as if he wasn't sprinting across the water's surface. Tazuna, while visibly intimidated by this was able to get his voice back in order to answer the man's question.

"Only about a half hour walk and we'll be at my home, oh Torino-san we should shut the motor off now. The bridge is in view." Tazuna finished and the whole group of Ninja marvelled as a colossal bridge came into view. The group simply marvelled for the next several seconds at the man previously steering the boat was now rowing deftly through a glade of sorts. They finally arrived a small secluded dock where Torino soon took off.

"Well forward we go." Tazuna said to himself with a small grin gracing his face, the ninja team nodded and took positions around the man silently. Tazuna led the way for 10 minutes with no problems. A rustle in the bushed elicited attention from Naruto, Satsuki, and Kakashi but seeing the Jonin's lack of action the two Genin stayed their hands. Thirty seconds later as they approached a small lake they were faced with the reason for that lack of action.

"Zabuza Momochi!" Ken yelled before anyone else, he gaped looking at the man standing calmly atop a massive blade. Said blade was wedged into a tree horizontally to give him a platform. Kakashi stepped to the front of the group and a polite smile graced his features in the form of a simply eye-smile.

"Looks like you really are Kakashi the Copy Ninja. As much as I'd like to talk I think we should get this underway. Wouldn't want to give the blonde anymore ideas. Just as he said that two Naruto's shifted into existence beside Zabuza. Both had wide eyes seeing the man had predicted their movement, faster than the Genin could register Zabuza's massive sword was wrenched from the tree and had bisected the two Naruto's which both popped out of existence. The real Naruto which was still standing with his team clicked in tongue in annoyance, it seemed as though he wouldn't be any real help against this opponent.

"Valiant effort Naruto but just leave this up to the Grown-ups okay?" Kakashi said with a small smile, lifting his headband the man revealed a glowing red Sharingan that spun wildly. Before Zabuza could make another retort the Silver haired Ninja had simply vanished. Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza with two kunai drawn, both glowed with vicious looking lightning chakra. He slashed at the sword-wielding Nin but Zabuza simply ducked under the attack before spinning and launching a kick at Kakashi's stomach. Kakashi side-stepped the attack and launched a spin kick that Zabuza blocked with his sword. Unfortunately for him Kakashi had pushed a good bit of earth chakra into his leg for that blow so the man and his massive sword were both sent flying toward the small lake.

"Zabuza the Demon of the Bloody Mist, an A-Rank missing nin who was once a member of the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen. His sword the executioner's blade is said to be able to cut anything in half with an eternally sharp blade. He is also noted as the sole true master of the silent killing technique the Hidden Mist is famous for. He was labelled a missing-nin after a failed attempt to overthrow the fourth Mizukage." Ken labelled of as he watched everything with wide excited eyes. The rest of the team gulped hearing the man's resume and seeing his teammate's apprehension he decided to share a little more knowledge. "Kakashi Hatake, most commonly known as the Copy Ninja but he has also held the titles of White Flash and Kakashi of the Sharingan. An A-Rank ninja who reached the rank of Jonin at age 10, it's been said he has copied over a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan eye and he has also invented several Lightning type Jutsu. He was the student of the fourth Hokage and is considered to be one of the Hidden Leaf's greatest Ninja" ken said again and all of his teammates looked at the lazy Jonin with all new respect, most of all Naruto who had not known the Fourth had taught this man. Maybe Kakashi would have hints on the Hiraishin.

" **Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!"** Kakashi called as he thrust his hands into the water Zabuza now occupied, the entire body of water sizzled with electricity and instead of getting burnt to a crisp Zabuza simply dissolved into a pile of water. Looking behind him Kakashi's eyes widened seeing the bottom of Zabuza's boot, the copy nin was sent barreling over the surface of the lake until he came to a complete stop atop the water's surface. The second he looked up Zabuza was flashing through hand seals, his Sharingan spun madly and Kakashi was going through the same hand seals. Only much faster.

" **Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"** Kakashi called and Zabuza finished only a moment later **"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"** two massive serpentine dragons rose from the lake and surged toward each other at speeds that did not suit their massive size. The two heads collided and exploded in a shower of water as Kakashi and Zabuza once again met in the middle of the lake. Both Ninja were soaked to the bone so Kakashi didn't want to risk any more lightning Jutsu that might hurt him as well. He channeled all the earth chakra he could into his two kunai to keep the executioners blade from cutting them in half. Still every few strikes he would have to switch out for a new set of kunai, finally he managed to jam a kunai into Zabuza's right shoulder, immediately after Zabuza kicked Kakashi away. He tore the kunai out and sent it flying at Naruto who barely managed to deflect it, taking advantage of the distraction he entered an odd stance that had a half tiger seal extended toward the sky and another near his chest.

" **Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu"** Zabuza said as a wicked grin showed through his face bandages, a thick mist settled over the entire area as the lake gave him more than enough water to work with, Kakashi jumped back and formed three shadow clones. They all formed up around the group of Genin and Tazuna, seconds passed by with not a hint of sound escaping from the mist.

"You're more impressive than I could have imagined Kakashi, but even your Sharingan can't help you much in this chakra-laced mist. Now which cute little Genin should I cut in half first." Zabuza's voice boomed all around them and fear settled into Sakura and Ken's forms as a thick killing intent settled unto the area. Tazuna seemed about ready to crap himself but to Kakashi's surprise both Naruto and Satsuki were fully alert. He assumed Itachi had been much more menacing back during the massacre, but Naruto he couldn't quite figure out, had he been tempered by the hatred of the villagers? In reality Naruto thanked the Kyuubi for training him with its own killing intent which made Zabuza look more like an angry dog than a demon. Finally Zabuza appeared in the centre of all four Genin with his sword bent behind his back ready to cut them all in half, including Tazuna.

"How about everyone at once!" Zabuza said with violent glee, however before he could move the blade he found his wrist being held in place by Kakashi who then jammed a kunai in his forehead. Unfortunately a second after another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi with his sword already mid-swing. As Kakashi fell to the ground all his shadow clones disappeared in small clouds of dust. However as Kakashi's from his the ground it was revealed to be a puddle of water, Zabuza didn't seem too surprised but he sure was when Kakashi appeared under him in a crouched position and sent the man flying with an uppercut. Zabuza grinned as he dispersed into water and another Zabuza formed behind Kakashi, this one spun quickly and sent Kakashi flying with a heavy kick to the back. The second the copy Nin hit the water Zabuza was beside him flashing through hand seals.

" **Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!"** Zabuza called and faster than Kakashi could react a bubble of water was entrapping him in mid-air. Zabuza held the jutsu with one hand placed in the orb. Zabuza grinned at his apparent victory but his eyes widened in fear seeing Kakashi's eyes glow blue, the lightning clone exploded into a violent surge of electricity that fried Zabuza for several seconds. The man dropped under the surface of the water and Kakashi appeared a few feet beside his team as the mist ebbed away. He quickly covered his Sharingan eye and eye-smiled at the Genin before promptly passing out. All of them rushed to his side with worry in their features, before they could run a proper diagnostic they heard heavy chuckling coming from the water and they all watched as Zabuza's form staggered up onto the land, horrible burns marred his flesh and he looked barely able to stand. But he was in better fighting condition than the chakra-exhausted Kakashi. Naruto cursed to himself.

"If he hadn't had to water walk that whole way he would be able to finish Zabuza off, but it looks like the responsibility falls on us." Naruto said as he mentally psyched himself up to face the weakened Jonin. Internally he still knew his chances were slim. But he had a mission to complete and people to protect, he stole a glance at Satsuki's worried features and nodded to himself internally.

'Alright fox time to see if my training has paid off' Naruto thought and he felt a familiar surge of red chakra in his stomach, he started focusing on controlling it but before he could really get into it four senbon embedded themselves into Zabuza's neck. The man immediately fell unto his side and was caught by a young looking ninja in a porcelain mask. Before they could ask any questions the two disappeared from sight in a swirl of wind. The group stared at the spot for several seconds before ken finally spoke.

"I think that was one of the Hidden Mist's Hunter-Nin, they take out guys like Zabuza and destroy the bodies, seeing as Sensei was knocked out he probably just didn't want to explain himself to a bunch of kids. Even if he didn't seem much older than us." Ken said rapidly as he and Sakura checked Kakashi for other injuries, Sakura had already popped a soldier pill into Kakashi's mouth and forced him to chew and swallow. She was thanking the academy's first aid course now more than ever before.

"Well if that guy's taken care of let's get your sensei to my place so he can recover. Being out here longer can't be too safe." Tazuna said and the group of Genin nodded as a small force of Naruto's was summoned. Two rushed off into the woods and came back with two long and relatively sturdy looking logs, Naruto took of his jacket and cut some holes in it then fashioned it around the two sticks to make a sort of stretcher. He tapped his belly button and another jacket appeared for him to make the stretcher long enough for the tall Kakashi, finally a third Jacket that was Black and orange appeared that the blonde put on himself. His clones picked up the Kakashi stretcher and signalled to Tazuna to start walking.

"Naruto where is all that stuff coming from?" Sakura questioned and the blonde simply lifted his shirt and showed a large ornate seal.

"This is a storage seal I have tattooed on myself so I can seal basically all my stuff inside as long as it's not anything massive. Lots of tiny stuff it the easiest to seal." Naruto stated simply as the group started heading toward Tazuna's house. Sakura nodded but she always thought sealing was a more advanced ninja art, 'I guess that's what it takes to be a Sannin's apprentice I guess' She thought simply to herself as she followed along the rest.

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"My guess would be that Hunter-Nin is Zabuza's apprentice. And that as we speak he is recovering in order to attack again." Kakashi said simply as he faced his Genin charges, all of them seemed worried by this but he waved them off with a small eye-smile. "But don't worry he'll take longer than me to recover, possibly two weeks based on how much chakra I pumped into that Lightning clone. Next time I'll be sure to finish him off, but that leaves you four to take on his apprentice." Kakashi said looking at them, he would be sure to train them all rigorously in the time he had.

"Naruto did Jiraiya-sama have you working on anything before we left?" Kakashi asked and the blonde held out his hand. A ball of violent blue chakra erupted into the palm of his hand and Kakashi's eyes widened considerably.

"He said to work on maintaining a Rasengan in each hand and to work on increasing their strength." Naruto said calmly and Kakashi nodded, with this signal Naruto left with a wave to the group. As he exited the door he suddenly stopped and ran back, grabbing Ken's arm the blonde saluted his sensei.

"I'm going to teach Ken some things, see ya Sensei." Naruto said with a cheeky grin as he and the silver haired boy shot out of the door, Ken was given no say in the situation and seeing as he couldn't do anything about it Kakashi opted out of worrying about it. Naruto surely had something up his sleeve to teach Ken, he knew the boy more than Kakashi did so maybe this was for the better. He then shifted his gaze to Satsuki and Sakura and an evil glint entered his one visible eye, both girls gulped and suddenly knew this new training was not going to be a cakewalk.

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"Naruto why did you take me away? Kakashi-sama would have taught me something really awesome." Ken complained as he and the blonde waltzed through the woods, before Naruto could reply two blurs jumped out of the woods at amazing speeds. Ken barely managed to dodge out of the way as they landed on the ground behind him, he spun around and was faced with two ninja wearing the same attire as Zabuza's apprentice. However their faces were revealed unlike the one from before, the first was a woman with short purple hair and green serpentine eyes, the second was a man with somewhat exaggerated features and no hair. If Ken was in a state to mock he would say the man looked sickly. Thinking to himself that this was Zabuza's backup he checked behind him for Naruto but found the blonde was nowhere in sight.

"No use kid, our Leader is taking care of the blonde. Now you'll pay for getting in Zabuza's way!" The female ninja shouted as she charged ahead at Ken who threw up a block to stop her fist, to his surprise she nearly broke through his block on impact. Thinking quickly he spun on his back foot allowing her momentum to carry her forward, taking advantage of his momentum Ken planted his spinning leg into the woman's stomach. She flew back a couple feet before impacting the ground harshly, Ken was about to marvel in his victory when suddenly a hail on kunai rained toward him. They managed to cut himself in several places as he hastily dodged, he cursed his nerves as he could feel his body was moving much slower than usual, the second the rain of kunai ended the woman was upon him. The landed on his back and he impacted with the ground harshly. She managed to pull his arms behind his back and Ken felt her pull with about enough force to dislocate both his shoulders.

"Come on Ken have you even been training?" The woman questioned in Naruto's voice, Ken looked up as the woman disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The kunai throwing guy also disappeared as Naruto walked out of the woods in front of him. The blonde helped him up and Ken was immediately on him.

"What the hell Naruto? Sneak attacking me off the bat! We both know your way stronger than me so there's no reason to rub it in!" Ken growled out angrily and somewhat solemnly near the end. Naruto shook his head and clasped his friends shoulder.

"Listen up you, those two clones were the most solid I can make at this time. If you can beat them in two on one combat I'll give you this." Naruto stated as he pulled out a small blue scroll with a lightning embellishment on its seal. Ken marvelled at it for a second before Naruto continued.

"This is a lightning jutsu that I picked up from Jiraiya, and I'm sure if you mastered it then Kakashi-sensei would be really impressed. Now come on let's train, you can challenge my clones whenever you want." Naruto said simply and Ken nodded with a grin.

"Alright how's now sound?" Ken asked eagerly and Naruto's expression sunk into one of disbelief, seeing his fellow Genin's excited expression he formed the cross hand seal and in a cloud of smoke two new Naruto's were standing beside him. They immediately rushed Ken and the blonde watched as the boy was once again but on his back foot immediately. This was going to be a long two weeks.

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"Alright Naruto it's been a whole week now and I haven't challenged them in three days. I know I can do it this time!" Ken shouted and Naruto cancelled the bowling ball sized Rasengan as he formed the familiar hand seal. The two clones appeared once again and Ken leapt at them first, he landed a kick to the woman and just barely missed the man with a backhand. The woman hit the ground with a painful sound and Ken continued his assault on the man. Just as the figure had drawn two kunai Ken kicked his hand sending the kunai tumbling from his hands, Ken pressed the man and was overcome with glee when a knee landed solidly into the bottom of the man's chin. The figure disappeared into a cloud of smoke and ken cheered mentally. 'Finally I'm not nervous, I can fight like it's nothing now!' he cheered as he nearly dodged a punch from the woman who now seemed more invigorated, he was on his back foot dodging a flurry of fists and feet. Finally as Ken was preparing a counter she seemed to anticipate it and whirl around him, a heavy palm attack to his back made Ken collapse to the ground as he mentally cursed.

'God dammit I'm so weak, one hit like that and I can barely move my body.' Ken thought as the clone dispersed and Naruto walked up to him, the blonde picked his silver haired friend up and walked him over to a small makeshift camp. He set Ken up against a tree and gave him some cooked meat to eat. He sat a few feet in front of Ken with a serious look on his face.

"Hey Ken why do you want to be a shinobi?" Naruto asked and just as he expected Ken's response was immediate.

"So I can be a badass ANBU captain." Ken said with a childish grin, Naruto shook his head at this response which caused Ken's features to fall slightly.

"No Ken I want to know why you want to be a shinobi at all. Attaining a rank isn't a good enough reason, what do you want that rank for?" Naruto asked seriously and Ken blushed a little as he scratched the back of his neck. He looked at the ground in front of him as he seemed to think.

"Well, because people like INU need to exist. They're the invincible heroes that everybody knows they can rely on, those heroes are the reason people can feel safe in their home village and their also the reason a lot of bad guys don't do too many bad things. So I want to be a hero like that, somebody that can face everyone with a smile and say it's going to be alright." Ken finished looking Naruto with fire in his eyes, Naruto grinned seeing this as he stood up quickly. Ken watched with a confused look as the blonde started walking off, the blonde tossed Ken the blue scroll and the silver haired boy's confusion grew.

"The female clone was me every time, I just substituted with the clown and dispelled it at the same time. You had me on edge for a second today, I'm scared about what you're going to be like by the time this week is over. Don't open that until you know there's trouble, it's a onetime technique that's sure to blow Kakashi away." Naruto said as he disappeared into the woods with a blur of speed. Ken wanted to chase the blonde but found that he was too tired from the day's events, not to mention his full stomach. His body just felt too heavy. He nodded of thinking about how cool he could look using whatever technique Naruto had given him.

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"Alright now I think it's time I went to visit our friend Gato." Naruto said to himself as he walked through the woods, he had just checked in and told Kakashi that Ken's training was on course. Satsuki had tried to make him stay and spar with her but the blonde managed to trick her just barely with a clone. He was now sailing through the trees on the way to what he assumed was Gato's base on the island. The blonde has been spending his night's roaming the island and taking out Gato's thugs when he came upon them. He had gotten all the information from the men in their last moments. He shivered remembering one that had been in the middle of assaulting a woman when he had come upon them, he hadn't even given that one a chance.

"Excuse me." A young voice chimed in and Naruto stopped and looked to his side, a young girl no older than five was standing with a small basket in her arms. Naruto could see the young girl was rather roughed up and before thinking he walked toward her with a warm smile on his face. The next second a kunai was sent through his forehead, the blonde disappeared in a cloud of smoke as the young girl swore and in a cloud of smoke she changed into a brown haired boy wearing a carbon copy of what Zabuza usually wore. He had a large cleaver sword on his back and looks rather vicious with his sharp green eyes.

"Damn blonde, I guess you feel like playing cat and mouse then?" The boy questioned as he took off into the woods, Naruto grinned as he received his clone's memories. He had taken a detour and had sent his clone on the main path to fish out an ambush. His trap had been sprung and it looked like the blonde had someone to occupy himself with for the next week.

"I'm thinking more of a game of fox and fish." Naruto said as he absentmindedly twirled a kunai on his finger. He needed practice using Rasengan in combat and what was better than what looked like Zabuza's apprentice. And if he kept this kid busy then Team 7 would never have to fight. He grinned wider at his own great plan and continued his leisurely walk.

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	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for your continued support everyone, though I do still need a beta haha. Now you'll notice I made Kurama a good bit nicer in this fic, just one of the little changes I like to make in order for the story to avoid too many things that pull away from the main plotline in my head. My chapter updates are a bit erratic though so please bear with me. Now let's get on with it!

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"Well this was to be expected." Kakashi said dully as he walked with Satsuki and Sakura, Ken had returned from his training the night before and he was still sleeping. He was just glad the two girls were in top form for whatever was coming.

"Well well Kakashi, it looks like your missing two. Don't worry because my other apprentice is sure to take care of them. Let's do this Haku." Zabuza said with a predatory grin and Kakashi's eyes widened hearing this. But he calmed, believing in Naruto.

"He'll be sure to join us sometime soon Zabuza. But for now let's get this whole thing underway." Kakashi said as he lifted his headband and his sharingan spun to life, he charged forward at Zabuza who was forced to leap back in retreat. Seeing this Haku was about to leap at Kakashi's back, only for Satsuki to suddenly appear in front of him with a kunai brandished.

"Not so fast." Satsuki said as Haku withdrew several senbon in each hand and charged at her, Satsuki pivoted out of the way and parried the backhand attack from Haku. The Uchiha girl was in a deadlock for the enemy for a second until Haku flashed through several one handed seals. At that moment four other Haku's sprung up into existence around them, all of them let loose needles at Satsuki who was forced to backflip high into the air. She flashed through hand seals rapidly and flung a kunai with ninja wire attached to it. She placed the other end of the wire between her teeth and grinned

" **Fire Style: Screaming Star Jutsu!"** Satsuki called as she sent a white hot stream of fire down the ninja wire. The kunai became a white hot star that seemed to bend to Satsuki's will as it pierced the hearts of all the Haku's. They all fell to the ground in puddles of water and Satsuki landed a moment later. However at that moment she felt a chill as the real Haku finally appeared just behind her. She could just somehow feel this one was different from all the rest she had just faced. She just barely ducked under a senbon and was able to kick the boy in the stomach to get him away. Haku looked off into the distance and saw a small explosion.

"I need to assist Master Zabuza so I'm afraid this will have to end quickly." Haku said resolutely as he flashed through hand seals. Satsuki tried to charge the boy but was stopped when a wall of needles rose up between her and him.

" **Hidden Jutsu: A Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"** Haku called as well over a thousand needles flew toward Satsuki. The girl swore and saw there was no way to dodge out of the way. She flashed through hand seals faster than she ever had and slammed her palms on the ground.

" **Earth Style: Earth Dome Jutsu!"** Satsuki called as the concrete around her surged up and formed a solid dome that was soon covered in needles. Several were even halfway lodged in the dome but it held. When the barrage ended Haku took the advantage of the Uchiha's lack of mobility and flashed through a different and much longer string of hand seals. Satsuki's earth dome crumbled just as he finished his hand seals.

" **Hidden Jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors!"** Haku called and as Satsuki once again tried to charge him she was stopped once again. But this time a solid wall of ice blocked her way, then she watched with slight awe as several dozen more mirrors of ice formed all around her to create a dome. She jumped back so that she was not too close to any of the mirrors.

"Now I'll end this. I'm sorry but I cannot afford to play with you anymore." Haku said as he stepped into one of the mirrors. Then faster than Satsuki could comprehend her body was littered with innumerable ice senbon. However she silently thanked Kakashi for the training in reinforcing oneself with earth chakra. Due to this half of the Senbon merely bounced off her skin. Haku simply prepared a second volley but he was stopped by a loud voice.

"Keep your damned hands of my teammate!" Ken yelled loudly as he tackled straight through one of the mirrors, to Haku's utter shock. He landed next to Satsuki with a large grin on his features as he brandished a blue scroll in his left hand. Haku reformed the broken mirror, he could sense Zabuza growing weaker and knew this new distraction would just prolong things if he didn't stop being kind.

"Now watch with amazement as I unleash the power Naruto helped me attain." Ken said with a grin as he pulled out a blue scroll. Even Haku waited with bated breath as the scroll unfurled and Ken began to glow a sharp blue for a few seconds. But just as the glow seemed to reach its apex it faded to nothing and all present sweat dropped.

"Wha…" Ken mumbled off, he dropped to his knees in shock and Haku took this opportunity to send out another barrage of senbon. Ken saw the slight movement in the corner off his eye and he leapt into action….with much more speed than he had ever experienced before.

"Is this the scroll?" Ken exclaimed as he easily deflected all the senbon incoming at him while Satsuki did the same. It seemed like Haku had trouble aiming for more than one target when moving at his insane speeds. He took the time after the volley to peak at the scroll which now laid open on the ground and he read the large words inscribed in it.

'Ken this will deactivate the gravity seals I put on you, go wild.' It read and in response the boy grinned. He withdrew several paper bombs and held them between his fingers, Haku launched another volley of senbon and once again he noted Satsuki was dodging just fine. As he dodged Ken also surged toward the mirrors and was able to plant paper bombs on several of them before being forced back by a kick from Haku.

"Here we go!" Ken said with a grin as he held a half tiger seal, 7 mirrors exploded and Haku yelled in pain. Ken had managed to slip one on Haku's leg before being kicked away. They were all extra strength so he knew Haku's leg would have to be heavily damaged at least.

"Dammit" Haku mumbled to himself as he looked at his leg which now simply looked like a stick of flesh and cloth. He might even have to use 'that' technique.

"Gaaaaa!" They all heard Zabuza yell and in panic Haku ignored his brutalized leg and flashed through another set of hand seals.

" **Hidden Jutsu: Ice Demon's Domain!"** the destroyed mirrors were rapidly replaced and they all connected rapidly as the ground also became covered in ice. A much more deadly and heavy rain of senbon came soon after.

"Ken move!" Ken heard Satsuki yell and he leapt back just as a spike of ice sprung up from the ground. Just as he landed a second spike began to rise up. His eyes widened and he felt a silent scream rip from his throat.

A few moments ago

"Dammit he's as fast as I am now, but now that our opponent has two targets I should be able to keep up." Sasuke said to herself as she dodged the next two rain of senbon, she was very impressed when Ken had blown up several of the mirrors and seemingly injured Haku. But the enemy had simply ramped up his game and now seemed to be more powerful than ever. As she assessed the situation she saw the ice under Ken move slightly and she responded to the threat immediately.

"Ken move!" She yelled just in time for Ken to move, she found herself having to dodge her own pillar. But at the same time she saw another pillar about to skewer ken as he landed. The whole world slowed to a crawl around her in an instant and she easily spun out of the way of a second spike. Meanwhile Ken was just able to dodge at the last second, however the spike still managed to tear through his left leg.

"AHHHHHHH!" Ken screamed as his leg was separated at the knee by the spike, he landed on the ground with a heavy thump. Satsuki was distracted by Ken's scream for just a fraction of a second but that was more than enough time for Haku to appear behind her with senbon ready.

"NO!" Ken yelled seeing what was about to happen, he focused all the chakra he could into his kunai and sent it flying at Haku who sensed the danger and held his palm out toward the glowing kunai. A massive spike of chakra shot out from Haku's sleeve to intercept the kunai. Only for the kunai to seemingly pass through the icicle leaving a clean melted hole through it. The kunai tore through Haku's hand and went toward the boy's face, while it did manage to break through his mask the boy's face was only slightly cut.

"I've got you now!" Satsuki yelled as she sent a vicious spin kick toward Haku's stomach, the boy impacted heavily as Satsuki landed. She looked to Ken with a small grin only for her eyes to widen.

"K-Ken?" She questioned seeing the massive puddle of blood around him, his detached leg only attributed to a part of the puddle. What caused the majority of it was the icicle now stuck through his stomach. It seemed as though his kunai did nothing to change the trajectory or speed of the icicle, all it did was pass through the thing. The icicle was still able to pierce the downed boy. Satsuki ran up to Ken and fell to her knees beside him with tears already falling down her face.

"H-hey, your S-Sharingan finally showed up. G-good job….." Ken trailed off as his eyes closed, Satsuki felt everything freeze around her. She had not known the boy that well but she knew that he was kind. And all this blood…it reminded her of the massacre, the trauma suddenly all rushed to the surface as Itachi's Tsukuyomi flashed through her head. She found herself unable to move as her eyes spun wildly, finally they returned to their original black. She absently turned her head as Haku stood to his feet, his hand hung limply at his side but his eyes were burning with desperation.

"I'm sorry but I cannot afford to let you kill me, Zabuza may have need of me." Haku said as he held a half hand seal. Ice senbon formed in the air all around him and Satsuki's eyes widened seeing that the senbon were coming at her and there was no way she could stop it. She was simply in too much shock.

"Satsuki!" She heard a scream and she looked to her left to see Naruto had broken through the side of the dome. But just as she regained her sense the rain of senbon impacted.

Several moments earlier

"Damn you look longer than I had anticipated." Naruto said down to the downed boy he had been facing in combat occasionally for the past several days. He would always engage the boy until his own victory was assured then he would retreat and stay hidden until the boy was fully healed. But he had just felt his seal on Ken dispel so he was panicked now, his opponent's entire body had been broken by his newest Rasengan variant. The crater around the boy spoke wonders for the technique so Naruto considered his training successful.

"I have to get there and help them!" Naruto yelled as he took off with his greatest speed, Naruto zoomed through the trees and as the bridge came into view he could see the large Ice dome. He impacted with a kick but found it wasn't even enough to dent the thing, he heard screams from within and swore as he held out his hand. Chakra began to swirl rapidly and the sphere expanded greatly as Naruto poured more chakra into it. The chakra was now about 3 times its original size as he thrust it forward.

" **Giant Rasengan"** Naruto yelled as the Rasengan grinded through the dome with ease and exploded in order to make a large opening. Just as the Rasengan dispelled all he could do was yell her name as Satsuki was bombarded with a rain of senbon. He looked to Ken's downed form and then back to Haku.

"I'm afraid I will now have to kill you just as I did your friends." Haku said as tears ran down his face, Naruto grew even angrier seeing this. Haku raised his hand and several massive spikes of ice sprung from all around toward Naruto. They all impacted at once and a loud explosion resonated. Haku felt more tears as he took yet another life, he was getting ready to go help Zabuza when a heavy force core down on him. He looked toward Naruto who was now crouched beside Satsuki. The ice all around the blonde melted easily as the golden chakra surged around him. A large surge of the chakra exploded out of him as he laid Satsuki to the ground gently beside Ken. All the needles were now melted so the girl no longer looked like a pincushion.

" **You."** Naruto said in a demonic voice, he looked toward Haku with violent slit pupils. His clothes glowed with the golden chakra at his hair all stood on end upward. But Haku felt so very afraid.

" **You killed them so it's time to DIE!"** Naruto shouted, the blonde felt he was no longer in control. The chakra may have been under his control but the bloodlust certainly was not. Faster than he could comprehend Haku no longer felt his good arm or his good leg, he looked behind him only to see Naruto had two arms of chakra coming out of his back. They held his two severed arms while the blonde's original arms held his legs.

" **You're not getting out of this easily."** Naruto said with ferocity as Haku's limbless body fell to the ground. The chakra had cauterized the wounds and now all the boy felt was horrible, mind-numbing pain. Naruto was above him in an instant, the blonde's hands ripped through Haku's stomach. Blood and flesh exploded outward as Haku finally faded from the world. Naruto continued to tear at the body even as he became no more than a pile of mush.

"Naruto stop!" He felt a presence running up to him and the enraged blonde turned around ready to strike. Only for Satsuki to leap into him, his chakra burned her for a couple seconds until Naruto gained his senses and supressed it.

"He's dead Naruto you can calm down." Satsuki said in between sobs as she clung to the blood-soaked blonde. The pungent smell of blood filled her nostrils and she could feel the harsh burns forming on forearms as they had been the only exposed flesh when she hugged Naruto.

"S-Satsuki you're alive?" Naruto said with his own tears, he didn't feel like he deserved to touch the girl. His hands were far too bloody.

"When you called out to me I had enough time to reinforce my skin with earth chakra. The senbon still hit some key places though so I was paralyzed for a bit, even after you melted them. But I'm okay now so you can calm down, please Naruto you're not like this." Satsuki cried into the blonde's chest. The ice was no longer there so an injured Zabuza could be seen sprinting toward them, he had felt the massive chakra and had broken away from Kakashi. He had even seen the blonde tearing apart his apprentice and the demon of the mist saw red. He was upon the two Genin in an instant with his sword ready to cleave them in two.

" **Lightning Blade!"** Kakashi called as his hand punched through Zabuza's chest, the man's sword tumbled to the ground and he fell to his knees. Life left Zabuza's eyes as Kakashi eased him to the ground. He laid the demon down next to what remained of Haku, Kakashi himself had two large cuts of his abdomen and one on his left leg but the Jonin was still conscious.

"You two it's not time to rest yet!" Kakashi yelled as he looked to the end of the bridge, an entire army of Gato's mercenaries stood ready to murder them all. Naruto looked down at the now unconscious Satsuki and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. He placed her in Kakashi's arms as the man didn't seem able to stand.

"I'll take care of this sensei, I'm still practically in perfect condition. My mind was just a little shaken up." Naruto said to the silver haired man as the mob came upon Ken's body.

"Get this trash out of the way." The man said in a disgusting voice that pissed Naruto off even more. The man's cane was about to impact with Ken's body only for the cane and his arm to fall to the ground.

"I'm going to take a shameful amount of satisfaction in this." Naruto whispered into Gato's ear as the blonde once again disappeared in a blur of speed. Just as Gato's screams filled the air a dozen or so henchmen were already hitting the ground. All of them looked around in a panic as 10 blurs surged around. The heads of all of them were being exploded by what looked like blue streaks that travelled with the blurs of speed.

"Oh god what is this!?" A mercenary cried as he waved his sword around, only for one of the blue streaks to break through the blade and his head. This deadly light show continued for several minutes as the blurs moved around gracefully taking out opponents left and right. Finally Naruto finally stopped in front of Gato with his 9 clones dispelling at the same moment, the entire army behind Gato now lacked heads on their shoulders and fell to the ground unceremoniously. The shipping magnate simply wet himself as a scream caught in his throat, the last thing he saw were electric blue eyes and a sphere of blue chakra.

"Ken!" Kakashi called as he attempted to find some sign of life in the Genin, he had seen the look in Naruto's eyes and for some reason knew they would not have any more enemies to deal with. But the fact remained that poor Ken was already gone from this world, the Jonin let tears fall from his one good eye as he wrapped Ken's wounds.

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"So…." The second of Zabuza's apprentices mused as he sat tied up to a tree behind Tazuna's home. The boy had woken up like this and ever since he had regained consciousness he had waited for something to happen. Finally a blood soaked Kakashi and the blonde who defeated him showed up.

"So you're all that's left." Kakashi said with an edge in his voice as he threw down Zabuza's blade in front of the young man. The boy's eyes widened and he felt a sick feeling down in the pit of his stomach.

"Taking you back to the leaf for imprisonment would be an awful waste of time so we'll give you this one chance. You'll find their bodies at Gato's base which we've already raided for the citizen's belongings. Feel free to bury them or burn their bodies or whatever mist ninja do. Just be sure not to ever cross paths with us again." The blonde said with a sharp edge in his voice, he was extremely tempted to blame the youth for Ken's death and Satsuki's injuries but he had nobody to blame but himself.

'If only I'd stayed with the team. Then I would have been there to protect them, Ken wouldn't be dead and Satsuki wouldn't be in coma' Naruto thought angrily to himself as he felt the Nine Tails chakra start bubbling within him. However Kakashi placed a gentle hand on the blondes shoulder, the blonde seemed to calm visibly.

"O-okay I promise I won't cause any more trouble for you guys or the village. In all honesty I only wanted to train under Zabuza because I heard he was a swordsman of the mist. I'm still not technically a Genin so I can just return to the village. Having the sword with me is bound to get me in good with one of the factions." The boy finished, Naruto looked at the boy quizzically and Kakashi seemed to notice the blonde's confusion.

"The Hidden Mist has been in civil war for quite a while now, it looks like the rebel faction will win sometime soon though. You'll be wanting to side with the rebels kid." Kakashi said as he quickly cut open the ropes. The youth nodded his head with a solemn expression and picked up the sword. As he walked away he looked back at the two and smiled slightly.

"I won't waste the chance you two gave me, I'll use my strength well I promise!" The boy shouted as he jogged off into the woods. Naruto let a small smile grace his lips seeing the youth run off. Having fought the boy so much Naruto knew he wasn't a bad person, it made him wonder why he was mixed up with people like Zabuza and Haku.

'I shouldn't tell him that none of Satsuki's injuries where in life-threatening places. It would only make him feel more guilt over ripping Haku apart. The loss of Ken is more than any pain a Genin should have to bear' Kakashi thought to himself as he looked down at the conflicted blonde. This mission had been more than any of them had bargained for, Haku was at least as strong as a Ninjutsu special Jonin. Zabuza had even been close to defeating the copy Nin a couple of time during their bout.

"Come on Naruto let's go check on Satsuki, she should be waking up from her minor chakra exhaustion today or tomorrow." Kakashi said as he and Naruto walked back toward the house, Naruto walked behind him with slightly fearful eyes.

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Satsuki suddenly felt herself wake up but in her first attempt to open her eyes she found she couldn't even do that yet. As the moments ticked by she felt she was lying down, a heavy blanket was placed on top of her and her forearms felt very numb.

'Naruto!' She thought in panic remembering the golden chakra the blonde had been covered in, all she could remember was that it faded away and she felt him carry her in his arms before she lost consciousness. She felt a heavy blush creep into her face as she remembered how the blonde's chest had been so warm. As her senses returned she smelled something familiar and relaxing. She felt another weight on her legs as well. Finally her eyes decided to obey her. When they fluttered open she was greeted by the eye-smiling visage of Kakashi.

"Well look who's up, Naruto's going to be sad he wasn't awake when you woke up." Kakashi said somewhat teasingly, as her mind tried to process what he said she looked down at the weight on her legs only to find Naruto's head resting on her thighs. His right hand was placed gingerly atop her own bandaged hand and the blonde's eye sockets were sunken in and red.

"He wanted to stay by your side until you woke up, he actually only passed out an hour or two ago." Naruto nuzzled further into Satsuki's lap, the girls blush reached new heights as Kakashi chuckled and exited the room. He closed to door behind him leaving a red-faced Satsuki with the sleeping blonde. The Jonin had his own emotions to sort out.

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" **You certainly did mess up, and you can't blame it on your lack of strength. The chakra you've gained control of was more than enough to take down even that Zabuza if you needed to. You simply made a mistake in judgement."** The fox said looking down at Naruto who was sitting with his back to the bars of the fox's cage. Naruto had been brooding ever since he entered the mind-scape. Only now had the fox bothered to offer speculation so Naruto looked up to him.

" **Just smarten up brat, if you don't want something like this to happen again then don't let it."** The Kyuubi said simply and Naruto let a small smile grace his features, he had been mulling over every little detail in his head finding things he could have done better but the fox was right. In Ken's honour he would make sure he never lost anyone again, he wouldn't mess up like that again.

" **But just because you can control a tails worth of chakra doesn't mean you won't have to get stronger. You'll have to fight the rest out of me, so I know trusting you with the chakra isn't a mistake."** The Kyuubi said with a condescending grin that Naruto may have even seen as friendly if it were not the fox giving it to him. Naruto grinned up at the fox and held his fist out.

"Well when the day comes I can beat your chakra out of you then that means I can just let you out of here right?" Naruto said with a childish grin on his features, the fox stumbled a bit at that one. He looked down at the blonde quizzically and Naruto was soon to withdraw into himself a little.

"Well like you said that Madara guy could control you, but if I was strong enough to beat you then that wouldn't be a problem anymore. Because if he did take control of you then I could just beat you and him up." Naruto said with a small blush as he looked off to the side, The Kyuubi grinned and shook his head slowly.

" **Sorry to say for both of our sakes but that won't be able to happen kit, that bastard of a Yondaime took my physical body with him into the death god's stomach. The only hope I have of roaming this world freely again is by taking over your body. Not to mention that without me in here your body would cease to function, its processes now rely on my own chakra and without it….well to be simpler it would be like ripping out an organ you couldn't live without."** The Kyuubi said to itself as it also slumped against the bars of the cage. He looked back at Naruto expecting to see a horror stricken expression but what he found were those electric blue eyes he only saw every now and then. The same eyes as his father.

"Well if he using Sealing Ninja Arts to put you in here and seal your body away I'm sure I could find a way to fix both. But first of all I should start research on a way to keep me alive when you leave." Naruto said as his mind soon focused on all the sealing knowledge he had, he had been neglecting it ever since he started on the Rasengan but it seemed like it was time to delve back into his favourite of the Ninja Arts.

" **Kurama."** The fox said resolutely and Naruto looked up at the creature quizzically.

"What's that mean?" Naruto asked simply and the fox laughed.

" **That's my name brat, you can call me that when we're facing each other face to face in the real world one day."** Kurama said with a small grin, before Naruto could respond he felt a force pulling him back into the real world.

" **Now don't keep that Uchiha girl waiting kit. She seems worried."** Kurama said with a chuckle as he flung Naruto from the mindscape, when he was finally alone the fox chuckled and decided to get to work on his own little project. He would place his trust in the brat, he didn't have many other choices after all.

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"Satsuki?" Naruto mumbled as he was immediately met with the onyx eyes of Satsuki Uchiha, the girl was leaned rather close to him in her inspection of the unconscious blonde. She blushed heavily and was quick to yell at the blonde.

"What the hell are you doing sleeping on top of me!?" She yelled in panic as she reeled her arm back to slap the blonde, faster than her exhausted body could react to Naruto had caught her arm by the shoulder as gently as he could. Worry shown all over his features as he slowly lowered the Heiress's arm back to the soft embrace of the blankets.

"Satsuki please don't move around too much you're still injured." Naruto said gently though Satsuki could clearly see the guilt heavy in his features. The girl had a small internal conflict over whether to speak or not but her confrontational side won out in the end.

"It's not your fault." She said simply and Naruto looked to her with an expression that was confused for a second but then it showed clear disagreement. Satsuki levelled him with her most firm glare and the blonde's defiant expression wilted.

"But…..It only hurts what I want it to hurt and it hurt you…" Naruto trailed off as he looked down at the blankets, he felt a weight on his hand and looked down to see Satsuki's bandaged hand was laying in his own. He looked up and was met with the girl's kind eyes.

"Would you ever want to hurt me Naruto?" Satsuki asked simply as she matched gazes with the blonde, Naruto simply shook his head as he did not trust his words. Satsuki smiled beautifully and placed a gentle kiss on the blonde's forehead.

"I knew that, and you know that. So don't worry about it, we were in the middle of a battle and you thought I was d-dead. I'm sure you'd never hurt me on purpose Naruto, it's partly my fault anyway. Hugging someone who's one fire might not be one of my more clever stratagems." She mumbled cutely and her eyes widened when the blonde captured her lips in the swiftest of kisses. Before she could even react the blonde grinned cheekily at her and disappeared in blur of movement.

"S-stupid Naruto." Satsuki mumbled to herself as her face was overtaken by a blush and she snuggled up in her blankets. Naruto meanwhile was leaning against the wall of a nearby hallway in a cold sweat.

'What was that!?' Naruto wondered to himself and he heard demonic chuckling in the back of my head.

' **With you using my chakra it's a bit easier for me to release your more….feral instincts. Even if only for a fraction of a second'** the fox said with a cheeky voice that Naruto immediately shut down before another round of chuckling could begin. His cherry red face didn't show any signs of changing back to normal for quite a while.

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"I wouldn't want to move his body too much. So I hope you three don't mind having his burial place here." Kakashi said solemnly as he and the three remaining Genin stood in front of a clean marble grave that was etched into the bridge itself on one of the structures massive pillars. 'In Memory of Ken Yukimura, the hero who gave his life to save this bridge and the people of wave.' The plaque said and in memory of his sacrifice the bridge had been called the 'Great Yukimura Bridge'.

"We'll be sure to have his name etched into the Hero's shrine back in the village. Take as much time as you need." Kakashi said and a moment later Sakura collapsed against the memorial, despite not being around for the boy's actual death the pinkette seemed the most affected. She had found out when all the mist had cleared and she was able to see the entire bridge, until that moment she had been guarding Tazuna while momentarily hearing loud guttural screams. The poor girl had performed her mission spectacularly though. Both Naruto and Satsuki shed silent tears as they kneeled on either side of Sakura and patted her back gently. Several long moments passed and finally Sakura seemed to be all cried out, she picked herself up and started walking back toward the lead. The rest of the group followed along, they all knew Ken wouldn't want them spending so much time mourning him.

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	5. Chapter 5

Hey there once again everyone, thank you so much for your support and I hope you continue to enjoy my story. Well without further ado let's get on with it.

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Naruto roared as he thrust his Rasengan into the earth, the dense chakra sphere impacted creating a large crater in the earth. The blonde felt his eyes flick to red as he pushed more chakra into the sphere which in turn made the crater larger and larger. Finally the stability of the sphere began to wane and Naruto jumped back just as a dense explosion rocked the crater, when the smoke cleared it revealed the crater was twice as deep as before. Forming a cross hand seal Naruto brought 10 clones into existence around him, he held out his left hand and a Rasengan burst to life within his palm. A three pronged kunai slipped into his right hand and he took a new stance, he stood with his feet practically next to each other with his back foot bouncing up and down on the toes. He held his kunai in front of his face in a reverse grip while his Rasengan was held out from his body at a thirty five degree angle from his leg.

"I have to be faster." Naruto stated resolutely to himself as his bouncing foot suddenly hit the ground much harder, he took off in a blur of speed and before it could react the first of his clones had a Rasengan where its head should be. However a half step later two clones closed in on him from both sides, Naruto parried the one to his right and swiftly spun around it as the second clone rushed forward. With a grunt of effort he thrust the Rasengan through the first clone and into the second's chest. He leaped into the air to avoid a hail of shuriken from behind, he gripped his kunai harder and suddenly he disappeared in a blur of speed as afterimages followed him. The Shunshin or Body Flicker Jutsu was one Naruto had spent most of his early days researching, the jutsu didn't have a speed it brought one to. Instead it did the heavy lifting in moving one's body to the maximum potential that their chakra and muscles could work together, so a Genin's Shunshin would normally be as fast as a Jonin's slowed down pace.

"Naruto!" A feminine voice called out and Naruto's eyes widened as his concentration slipped on the Shunshin, he ended up impacting heavily with a tree. Noticing what was happening the clones dispelled themselves. Satsuki walked into the field to find a sweaty Naruto nearly unconscious at the base of a tree. "What the heck are you doing?" Satsuki asked in a tone that was much more kind than she had intended it to be. The female Uchiha cursed herself internally as she ran up to the blonde and crouched in front of him, she poked him several times until he finally let out a groan of pain.

"Satsuki don't surprise me while I'm training, pretty please?" Naruto questioned as he rolled over on to his back and looked up at the sky, Satsuki attempted to help the Uzumaki up only for her muscles to bulge with the effort. She let him fall to the ground as her eyes widened, to the minor protest of the Uzumaki she pulled up his sleeve and looked at the weight seal. While she had next to no knowledge on sealing the female Uchiha could clearly pick out the number 10 instead of five on his weight seal. Doubling that weight in such a short amount of time would be sure to destroy most anybody's body. Especially with the way Naruto trained. Satsuki's expression went from worry to angry in record time however, almost so fast Naruto didn't catch the transition.

"That's it, no more solo training for you! From now on everything is team training or training with me, if I can't trust you not to destroy your own body then I'll have to make sure you don't." Satsuki said with vindication, however Naruto even in his tired state could still see the worry in her features as she activated her sharingan and scanned his body. Looking for any abnormalities in his muscles.

"Satsuki you don't need to worry about me, my body's a lot stronger than most peoples. I'll be fin-" Naruto said calmly but he was cut off when the red eyed girl smacked him over the head with a heavy hand. Naruto felt little tears well up in his eyes as he looked up at his teammate. 'Why Satsuki?' was all he could think as a melodramatic feeling of betrayal took him over. However any levity the blonde had been trying to add to the situation was quickly cut off by Satsuki severe but also very caring expression. Naruto felt a blush rise to his cheeks and in response he quickly broke eye contact with Satsuki. Only for two soft alabaster hands to cup his cheeks and force him to look her in the eye.

"Listen I won't bug you about that golden chakra, you can tell me about that when you're comfortable. But regardless of anything special about you, that does not give you the permission to be so reckless. I won't lose you to." Satsuki said with a voice Naruto had never heard from the girl, it was so solemn and soft. Naruto decidedly didn't like her talking like that, he much preferred the Uchiha heiress's cocky and somewhat excitable tone.

"Okay, I guess I did go a little overboard just know. But regardless of that, I don't plan on losing you either, so don't do anything I would do okay?" Naruto asked with a small smile, the joke did seem to land a bit as a tiny giggle rumbled out of his teammate. Naruto's smile widened in response and the two Genin smiled warmly at one another, however as the emotions settled down the two quickly realized their current positioning. Fiery blushes rushed through their features and both Genin jumped back, Naruto hit the back of his head to a tree while Satsuki tumbled to the ground.

"Ah young love." Kakashi mumbled almost dreamily from the tree above, both Genin looked up with wide eyes at the Jonin. The silver haired man was currently smiling down on them with a perverted twinkle in his eye. Both felt their blushes increase tenfold as the man dropped down in front of them. His eye-smile was quickly set into a small frown however which caused both Genin to pay rapt attention.

"First I've got some news for Naruto." He said as he shifted his attention to Naruto who was now sitting up. "Jiraiya-sama had urgent matters to attend to so you have been left in the care of Team 7 for the foreseeable future. And speaking of Team Seven." Kakashi said as he also regarded Satsuki with this next statement. "Sakura Haruno had retired from active duty and will be training in the hospital from now on. So this means that Team 7 will now consist of Naruto Uzumaki and Satsuki Uchiha." Kakashi said with finality, both Genin seemed to be reflecting heavily given this new information.

"The first team meeting of the new Team 7 will be tomorrow at noon. I'll see you then." Kakashi said a little solemnly, he knew both of them had some things to think about and discuss. Both Naruto and Satsuki despite how close they were physically the two couldn't be more distant mentally.

'Damnit, Jiraiya-sensei is probably disappointed in me for messing up so bad on my mission. It's only right that I should fill the gap in team 7 but I didn't think he would flake off. I really messed up.' Naruto thought to himself as his internal thoughts strayed further into the depths of self-deprecation. Satsuki meanwhile was thinking more on her pink haired teammate.

'Poor Sakura, Naruto was with me after Ken passed so I was mostly fine. We both forgot about her so quickly. I'll make sure to visit her' Satsuki thought to herself resolutely, seeing Naruto was collapsing in on himself quickly the female Uchiha pepped up and walked over.

"Hey Naru-" Satsuki said cheerily as she placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, the blonde reacted quickly by grasping her wrist and pulling the girl forward as to limit her striking options. The second he realized his actions Naruto froze, by pulling Satsuki in he had made their faces so close the two were touching noses. Naruto's depressing thoughts were suddenly halted as his brain functions ceased altogether. Satsuki was no better, that electrifying look in his eyes had been something. She wasn't exactly sure what she felt about those eyes.

"Sorry!" Naruto shouted as he jumped back several metres, Satsuki stood frozen in that same position lost in her own thoughts for a little while. Finally her brain seemed to get back in gear and the girl grinned sheepishly. Something Naruto found surprisingly cute, however what she said next really took the blonde for a loop.

"I don't think I ever properly thanked you for rescuing me. So thank you." Satsuki said with a blush staining her cheeks. The blonde frowned internally and surged forward, before her frazzled mind could register it Naruto had pulled one of her white arm warmers back. Her skin was warped I scars that would no doubt fade from their current state but they would never truly go away.

"Some savior I am, what kind of hero hurts the people he's trying to save?" Naruto asked as he gently traced the Uchiha girl's wounds. Satsuki felt a shiver run up her spine in response to the contact but she used her free hand to once again cup Naruto's cheek.

"Listen here you, I'm tired of you being such a downer. If you hadn't shown up I would be dead, simple as that. I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose you idiot so just cheer up already!" Satsuki proclaimed somewhat angrily as her gentle caress of his cheek turned into a hard slap. One could not help but see the fiery blush present on her face as Naruto was sent down to the ground, a large red hand print pulsing on his cheek.

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"Alright you two, glad to see you're here on time. Now I have something important to discuss with you." Kakashi said, while they could tell he was actually being serious the two were put off by the calm and aloof air he held about himself. Naruto and Satsuki both paid extra attention to the man as he now spoke.

"The Chuunin exams are coming up, and regardless of recent….events. I believe you two are more than capable of doing well in the exams, but there is one key issue to be addressed. The issue of you being one teammate short, all of the hidden villages have their Genin operate in teams of three. We could always grab you a third member from the reserves." Kakashi thought to himself but Satsuki was quick to speak before he could continue.

"Is there a rule against just the two of us taking the exam sensei?" Satsuki asked suddenly, Kakashi's reaction was so calm it was obvious to the two that he had planned this from the start.

"Well no, but you would be given no handicaps. It would certainly be an uphill climb without a third teammate. Especially since the exams are based on team cooperation, meaning in any battles you would be at a disadvantage. But are you sure can take them on with just the two of you?" Kakashi questioned teasingly, in response both Naruto and Satsuki looked each other in the eye then looked back to their sensei. Two quick nods were the response the Jonin received.

"A new teammate would only throw off our trust and teamwork. I'm confident with just Satsuki and I we would stand a better chance, perhaps after the exam but certainly not with it being upon us in a week." Naruto said calmly and Satsuki nodded in agreement, it was clear the two were of one mind in this regard. Kakashi eye-smiled and tossed them two slips of paper.

"Alrighty then, in eight days at this time bring these forms to the given location. Until then I'd recommend working on your teamwork and skills. The chuunin exams are nothing to scoff at." Kakashi said with finality, with a quick wave he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Both Naruto and Satsuki looked at each other as large grins took over their faces. It was time to show their stuff.

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" **Alright brat, all your depressing thoughts are starting to become a….problem."** Kurama said as he looked around, the water that had once been merely a few centimetres was now well over a foot deep. The water levels in here always seemed to reflect the blonde's emotional state. **"So in order for you to feel safer using my chakra we should decrease the amount and work on your control. For now full cloak is too much power for you to handle. The bloodlust inherent in my chakra is too much for you, a special kind of training is necessary for you to use that power. But I've thought up a good loophole which will stop you from hurting that Uchiha again. I don't feel like drowning."** Kurama deadpanned as he faced Naruto, the blonde nodded to all of this and seemed to be rather embarrassed when Kurama gave him a knowing smirk.

" **So for now your nights will be spent trying to properly tame your inner bloodlust. If you control it then my chakra will not be able to control you. Now the first step will be…"** Kurama continued on, Naruto's newest training would surely be the toughest yet.

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"This is great!" Naruto shouted to himself as he disappeared in a blur of speed, he reappeared across the massive training field in a fraction of a second. A golden flash sparked both at his start and end point, the blonde imagined this is what the Hiraishin would look like. But he knew that the Hiraishin was still several leagues above this technique. He had been working on using Kurama's chakra in quick bursts for techniques, he was currently able to supplement his Shunshin and Rasengan. Elemental techniques were proving to be much more difficult to enhance.

"Wow, you just keep getting faster and faster eh?" Satsuki said with an impressed expression as she entered the training field, she walked up to the blonde and with nearly a thought she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"But are you fast enough to tag me back?" Satsuki said with a wink, Naruto's heavy blush did not stop him from attempting to capture the girl. Only for the Uchiha was replaced with a log, Naruto swore and disappeared in a golden flash. He leapt through the forest in the general direction of Satsuki's house while he channeled Kurama's chakra into his nose. Sniffing around he located her scent easily, he landed quietly and immediately swept aside some underbrush. Only to be met with one of Satsuki's arm warmers, attached to which were a large cluster of paper bombs. Naruto's eyes widened as he disappeared in a golden flash, an explosion soon rocked the forest and toppled several trees.

" **Kit, I like your choice in mates."** Kurama mumbled in Naruto's head, the fox certainly approved of the heiress's ruthlessness. Naruto blushed as he once again sniffed the air, he soon found that Satsuki had spread a heavy perfume all around with that explosions. His nose wasn't going to be any more help. The blonde then shifted the small amount of Kurama's chakra to his eyes, his eyes shifted to a beautiful gold as his pupils morphed to slits. The world around him somehow seemed to much more lively, he could see every animal and every movement of every leaf. The new overload of information was giving him a minor headache, thankfully Kurama stepped in.

" **I'll filter out everything that isn't important, just focus on finding that mate of yours."** Kurama said with a large teasing grin within the blonde's head. Naruto blushed but did as told, he scanned the area and was able to locate a lock of deep black hair. The smallest blue tint could be seen in the strand. He grinned and disappeared in a golden flash, he appeared just in time to see Satsuki leap from a branch. Leaping after her Naruto swore as he found himself tangled in a web of ninja wire.

'And those weren't important?' Naruto grumbled internally to the fox, Kurama chuckled good-heartedly then with a quick burst of golden chakra the wire destroyed. Shifting chakra to his ears Naruto stood still and focused. He heard the wind and leaves with perfect clarity, he could hear the footsteps and breathe of every creature nearby. Naruto's eyes gleamed electric blue upon finding Satsuki, the girls breathing sounded much different than that of a rabbit or squirrel. Disappearing in a golden flash he reappeared a few moments later behind Satsuki who was currently setting up another trap. The girl's eyes widened as she turned around just in time to catch a quick kiss on the cheek from Naruto, the girls eyes widened as a steamy blush rose through her body. As the blush reached its apex Naruto let a grin grace his features, only for Satsuki to disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"Show Clone? She must have copied my jutsu!" Naruto growled out as he surged forward once again, she had already gained too much ground. He would have to head her off at the Uchiha compound. Disappearing in a yellow flash Naruto sped toward the Uchiha residence.

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"Oh kami, have mercy on my soul!" Naruto shouted as he burst through the doors to Satsuki's home, he had just spent well over an hour getting caught up in all manner of traps. Everything from simple wire traps to more elaborate ones that somehow framed him for peaking on a bath house. He rubbed several of his wounds remembering how that had gone down. Just as he expected he could clearly smell Satsuki upstairs in one of the bedrooms, heading up stairs Naruto found himself standing in front of a standard sliding door. Opening the door Naruto was greeted with the sight of Satsuki Uchiha fluffing a pillow, his pillow.

"Oh hey Naruto, that was faster than expected." Satsuki said with a cute hum, Naruto continued to stand there dumbfounded as he scanned the room. Everything from his own home was now displayed proudly throughout this room. It even looked like she had found his secret storage, which explained the presence of his piggy bank on the night stand.

"W-what is all this?" Naruto questioned incredulously as he finally tuned back into reality, Satsuki smiled happily as she visibly suppressed a blush. The girl seemed to look for her words for several moments then finally she chose to speak.

"Well for a long time now it's been pretty lonely in this place, I've always considered selling it and getting a little apartment but never really got the nerve to do it. I got to talking to the Hokage about it and he came up with a solution. So from now on the Uchiha residence will be a place for orphans to live after they become too old for the orphanages, once they get a good career going for themselves they are free to find an apartment for themselves. The Hokage said it would take a lot of burden off the village bank account, he wouldn't have to rent places for the kids anymore. And seeing as how you were still living on the village's dime he said you were being relocated here as well. So welcome to your new home." Satsuki said with a large smile, the girl was obviously very proud of herself for her selfless actions for the village. Well that was all Naruto could chalk it up to, the blonde lug couldn't even begin to comprehend the reason he was staying in her private residence instead of one of the many other houses within the Uchiha district.

"Thank you Satsuki!" Naruto cheered as he ran forward and lifted the Uchiha heiress into the air with a hug, Satsuki grinned as well and hugged the blonde back. Naruto set the girl down but did not break physical contact as he made eye contact.

"You have no idea how great this is, the village can only afford to give us orphans the barest necessities because of how many of us there are. But now that they can live here the village can reallocate the funds to give the kids better food and clothes. Satsuki I thank you on behalf of all of us." Naruto said happily and somewhat seriously, his electrifying gaze only sent shivers through Satsuki as she felt an intense blush coming on. Shoving the blonde off of her Satsuki grinned sheepishly, something she had rarely done before meeting the blonde.

"Oh it's not that big a deal, oh the rest will all be moved here during the Chuunin exams. Speaking of the Chuunin Exams lets go train!" Satsuki said, the girl wanted nothing more than to shift the topic. While she did enjoy the praise, the poor Uchiha was too embarrassed to admit it so she would just have to shift his focus the only way he knew how.

"Sounds good!" Naruto said with a small grin as he disappeared in a yellow flash, Satsuki settled herself against the wall as she psyched herself up. She would not let Naruto have the upper hand in their interactions anymore. It was her turn to make him blush! Resolute the Heiress headed out to the training field.

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"Ooh, so serious." Satsuki mumbled to herself as she observed Naruto who was currently training his Sealing Art, well not so much training as reading and taking notes every now and then. Occasionally he would even bring out a scroll and create a seal. In those cases he would send a clone outside with said seal, Satsuki would follow the clone and watch it either explode or wipe the sweat of its brow as the seal performed as expected. In which case the clone would bring the seal back to Naruto and the blonde would grin happily.

"Well sealing is much more complicated than any other Ninja Arts, it requires more studying than Genjutsu, more training than Taijutsu, and more creativity than Ninjutsu. You can't even consider yourself a Master in sealing until you have created dozens of original seals that all function perfectly. So far all I've done is make improvements on the current best Gravity Sealing methods. I'll be going over them with the Hokage after the exams to get them permanently recorded and spread through the village. It should do well to give our Taijutsu-oriented ninja an upper hand on the opposition." Naruto said calmly as he looked through a stationary magnifying glass at the seal he was currently drawing, Satsuki nodded her head and shifted her seating position. It was rather late at the moment so the girl was all dressed up for bed in a set of Navy Blue Pajama's, only the most mature pajamas would do when in the presence of others. But then again with Naruto now living with her the female Uchiha would eventually have to let him see the cuter of her pajama repertoire.

"Satsuki could you come over here and activate your sharingan?" Naruto asked gently, his voice seemed so much more mature and soothing to Satsuki as she walked over. Maybe it was his focus? Satsuki wondered as she did as asked, immediately she gasped a little. The Seal and the scroll it was laid on where so bright she was forced to deactivate her Sharingan as she looked over to Naruto. The blonde smiled to himself happily as he took a couple notes.

"So based on your expression it worked? Well to explain is simply the Seal works with a density of chakra that the normal eye cannot pick up, it spreads that density out in the air around it and through minor applications of Lightning nature and some other things associated with explosive tags I'm able to create sort of a flare that only a Sharingan or Byakugan could pick up. This will be useful for Leaf Ninja who are trapped and cannot do anything less they give away their position, the idea is they activate this and when a leaf scouting team heads out with either a Sharingan or Byakugan they can easily find them. Even from long distances." Naruto explained and Satsuki nodded, she didn't understand some things but she couldn't expect Naruto to give her the full rundown on something this complicated.

"But couldn't this also be a weapon against the Uchiha and Byakugan?" Satsuki questioned and Naruto nodded solemnly in response, he pointed to another of the seals splayed out on the scroll. This one seemed only half complete.

"I'm working on a counter seal that would make it easy for someone to make themselves immune to the effects of the seal. So even if both seals got out into the world it would be useless because having a nullification seal doesn't prove much use in a situation where a leaf shinobi is hiding. No doubt if they captured the shinobi they would just take away the flare seal. So the creation of the nullification seal wouldn't have any negative side effects. While at the same time it would prevent the weaponization of my seal, I'll be bringing these to the Hokage as a set once the second one is done." Naruto said in that same calm voice that sounded mature beyond his years, Satsuki wondered if that would be how he always sounded once they were older. Blushing thinking of an older Naruto the Uchiha Heiress shifted her attention to the Chuunin exams, they were only a couple more days away. While she and Naruto had certainly increased their teamwork and personal skills a bit in the past few days she was wondering if that was really enough. Seemingly sensing her unease Naruto set down his paint brushes and placed a hand on Satsuki's shoulder. The physical contact forced Satsuki to once again focus on the real world and the electrifying blue eyes now staring into her own.

"Don't worry about it Satsuki, we're gonna be great." Naruto said with a calm smile, the blonde patted her shoulder then went back to his work. Satsuki's blush came back once again. Why couldn't he act all hyper and excitable like usual, he was so much easier to deal with when he was like that.

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Satsuki lay awake staring at her ceiling, it was far past the time she would usually have fallen asleep but she found her mind straying toward Naruto. Who was currently training out back, she wouldn't tell him she knew because then he would know he was worrying her and probably limit himself to make her happy. It's just how Naruto was. Satsuki sighed heavily as she once again felt a blush rising to her features. She rolled over in bed and shoved her face in her pillow.

'What's with me? Getting so attached to him, I mean sure we were rivals in the academy but…' Satsuki trailed off as she remembered her first meeting with the blonde.

 **Flashback Time!**

"W-why big brother?" Satsuki cried to herself, the female Uchiha had just recently been let out of the hospital. After Itachi had killed her entire family he had tortured the young girl through the use of a devastating Genjutsu. She hadn't told any of the doctors what she saw in that Genjutsu, she didn't even want to think about it. Itachi had said some other dumb things but she couldn't be bothered with them at the moment. All she knew was that she had to make him pay, he had to pay for killing everyone she loved and then leaving her alone. She had to get stronger but she was already stronger than all the kids in her class at the academy, how was she going to challenge herself? How was she going to make her tell him why he did it? The next moment she heard a noise and looked up only to be met with a pair of dazzling blue eyes followed by a splash of water.

"You're my rival now!" Satsuki said to the blonde with fire in her eyes. "What I mean is that I'm going to get stronger than you and do cool stuff like that, and it's your job to get stronger too. So I don't get bored, and when I eventually leave you in the dust I can go after that bastard!" Satsuki finished with a scream she didn't know she had been holding in. The blonde's eyed widened and he fell back in a comedic display that despite herself the Uchiha found herself giggling at.

 **Flashback Over!**

Satsuki smiled to herself remembering that day, ever since then Naruto had been making her smile and laugh. But at the same time she made her worry and yell just as much. She had realized some time ago that through all that the blonde had wormed his way into her heart as somebody she cared about deeply. She imagined what would have happened if they hadn't met that day, what would she have done with her life up to this point? Shaking those thoughts away Satsuki smiled again, the reality was that she had Naruto and he made her happy. She would do anything to protect that, she was not going to lose anyone else anymore. Especially not Naruto.

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End file.
